The MDHHS data, released on Monday, appear to contradict observations made last week by Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who praised the effectiveness of approved vaccines but exaggerated her ability to help recipients avoid hospitalization.
“Now, the good news is in our hospitals, we are seeing fewer people entering the ICU, the average age has dropped,” Whitmer said on Friday at a press event in Pontiac, where she visited a mass vaccination clinic. “Zero percent of people in our hospitals have now been vaccinated, which indicates that vaccines work.”
The state’s infection data was collected until March 31, Sutfin told Bridge. It is unclear how many of the nearly 2,800 people hospitalized with COVID at the time of Whitmer’s comments on Friday were vaccinated.
Eight patients who were “fully vaccinated” were being treated for COVID-19 at Beaumont Health hospitals on Monday, according to Dr. Nick Gilpin, Beaumont’s medical director of infection prevention.
At least some of them were there on Friday, he said, although he added that he was not sure if Whitmer had this data.
Of 156,430 people who were vaccinated according to Beaumont records, 41 later tested positive for the virus – an “impressively low number when you consider how many patients we vaccinated,” said Gilpin.
The so-called “innovative cases” are not surprising, he added. Michigan seniors and those with weak immune systems may not be able to build a strong enough defense against the virus, even though the vaccine’s efficacy rate is “excellent”.
“Even if you are fully vaccinated, nothing represents zero percent risk now,” he said.
At Trinity Health Michigan, a dozen more than 3,000 health workers tested positive after being fully vaccinated, but none became seriously ill, said Dr. Rosalie Tocco-Bradley, clinical director.
She said the eight-hospital system is not treating any patients with COVID who have been vaccinated against him.
“I think it remains a very strong defense for vaccination,” said Tocco-Bradley.
The state asked hospitals to send samples to the state of anyone who tested positive for COVID after being fully vaccinated, she said.
According to the MDHHS, 246 people tested positive for COVID-19 two weeks or more after their second dose of Pfizer or Moderna or after their first and only dose of the Johnson & Johnson single dose vaccine, said Lynn Sutfin, a spokesman for the department, to Bridge Michigan Monday.
“The departments of ocal health are in the beginning of their investigation or have not yet started investigating the case,” wrote Sutfin by email.
Of the three people who died, two died three weeks after the vaccine ended, according to Sutfin.
“Although the majority of the population develops total immunity within 14 days of completing their vaccine series, a small proportion appears to take longer to form a complete antibody response,” wrote Sutfin.
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are considered 95 percent and 94 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 with symptoms, respectively. More than 1.8 million michiganders have so far completed vaccines.
Clinical trials of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine concluded that it prevented serious infection results, but the tests measured different results, so the vaccine’s effectiveness cannot be directly compared to the rates of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
At least 100,000 michiganders received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, according to state data.
Sutfin emphasized that the rate of people infected with COVID-19 remains much lower among people who have been vaccinated than among those who have not.
Sutfin said it may be that some people in this vaccinated group were infected shortly before they received the injections, but only tested positive afterwards. Likewise, people vaccinated with “breakthrough cases” of the virus were more likely to have few or no symptoms compared to people who were not vaccinated.
Initial case information was collected through the Michigan Disease Surveillance System, which is used by public health officials across the state to track communicable diseases.
– Team writer Mike Wilkinson contributed