A health worker in San Diego County who was fully vaccinated against COVID-19 has contracted the disease, the first known case of its kind in the region. But public health officials don’t want the matter to be cause for alarm.
Dr. Eric McDonald, San Diego County medical director for epidemiology and immunization, said the case has been settled in recent days. The health worker, who was not further identified, was exposed and showed symptoms. A test then confirmed the positive result.
McDonald emphasized that – with vaccines that are about 95% effective in preventing COVID-19 infection – there is the possibility that a small group of individuals will contract the virus after taking both doses of the vaccine.
“We expect more [cases]McDonald said in Wednesday’s weekly briefing on COVID-19 disease in San Diego County. We expect the number to be low and we expect most cases to be the same as the one just reported. ”
NBC 7’s Steven Luke shares what you need to know in San Diego County on the morning of Feb. 18, 2021.
The highest level of protection against COVID-19 comes about two weeks after a person gets their second dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s unclear how long after receiving their second dose the health care provider in San Diego became infected.
While some can get COVID-19 after inoculation, people shouldn’t be deterred from getting the vaccine. The CDC adds that even if a fully vaccinated individual contracts COVID-19, the vaccine can help develop serious illness. Data also shows that there are fewer COVID-19 hospitalizations among vaccinated individuals.
In the case of San Diego’s first vaccinated positive, the health worker showed “minimal symptoms,” according to McDonald.
The Pfizer BioNTech vaccine is 95% effective and the Moderna vaccine 94.1% effective in preventing COVID-19 disease. But a new factor that is still being studied is the introduction of mutant strains of the disease COVID-19.
At least three variant strains are circulating in the United States, and California has reported cases involving two of these strains. The majority of California mutated cases were in San Diego County, which could possibly be due to the region’s emphasis on local-level genome sequencing.
With new COVID-19 variants from the UK, South Africa and Brazil now spreading, doctors are rushing to vaccinate as many Americans as possible before more mutations occur. Dr. Natasha Bhuyan, a regional director of One Medical, joined LX News to talk about why vaccines are so important right now and how she is encouraging her patients to overcome their skepticism about them.
The variants seem to spread more easily and more quickly than the original COVID-19 strain. While the CDC believes the vaccine will also prevent infection from these strains, more research is needed.
Scientists from San Diego assist with that research, especially when cases occur among vaccinated individuals, such as the San Diego health worker.
“We look at those cases by analyzing them from a whole genome sequence to see how it relates to the vaccines,” McDonald said.
The coronavirus vaccine has been shown to be safe, but some of the temporary side effects can feel quite harsh, especially when you get that second dose. Iahn Gonsenhauser, Chief Patient Safety Officer at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, described his own experience with “extreme” fever and chills after his second injection, so you know what to expect.
However, it is important to note that the vaccine itself will not give COVID-19. People have reported some side effects – such as fever, chills, fatigue, and headache – after receiving the injection, but those symptoms are normal signs that the body is building immunity to COVID-19, the CDC said.
Even with the vaccine, there is the possibility that people could be “spreaders” when exposed to the virus. Those individuals may not show any symptoms. So the CDC says people should still keep social distance, wear their masks, keep washing hands, and avoid gatherings.
So far, about 5% of San Diego’s population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. About 17% of the population has had at least their first chance. But with supply issues affecting appointment availability, the process of increasing that last metric slows down.