"Breakthrough" infections of the fully vaccinated

C.D.C Director Rochelle P. Walensky

Those of us who are fully vaccinated can no longer assume we can't be infected with the virus. 

We probably won't get very sick if we do get infected, but apparently we can still infect others! 

In today's NY Times:

To the Editor:

Vaccine skepticism isn’t our only problem. We need to recognize that so-called breakthrough infections are almost certainly more widespread than we are willing to let people believe. We talk about reaching herd immunity, and vaccination is the more ideal way (rather than letting everyone get infected).

But part of that theory assumes to a great degree that people who are vaccinated serve as a blockade in the spread of the infection. In other words, the more people who are vaccinated, the less likely it is for an unvaccinated person to come into contact with a source of infection.

However, breakthrough infections — if common — throw that theory out the window. 

The fact that we are finding breakthrough infections largely by circumstantial testing strongly suggests we would find far more if we were aggressively testing, which we are no longer doing, particularly in the vaccinated.

So — and most don’t want to hear this — short of the vaccine hesitant getting vaccinated (which they should), the best way to limit the potential breakthrough infections that could threaten them remains universal masking. It’s that simple.

Craig H. Kliger

San Francisco

The writer is a health policy executive.

Later (August 5): From New Guidance for the vaccinated

While new research shows vaccinated people can become infected and carry high levels of the coronavirus, it’s important to remember that those cases are rare, and it’s primarily the unvaccinated who get infected and spread the virus....

See also Will things ever return to normal? It doesn't look that way.