MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Minnesota health officials are looking for positive cases of COVID-19 after someone was fully vaccinated.
These types of infections are called “vaccine discovery cases”. The Minnesota Department of Health says that tracking positive cases 14 days or more after a second vaccine is important. This could help the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to better understand the duration of vaccine immunity.
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Karla was relieved when her 79-year-old mother, Sharon, received her second dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine on February 10. Thirteen days later, she tested positive for the virus after feeling bad.
“I was really worried about her,” said Karla. “She had a sore throat and a cough, and I was like, ‘Mom, you need to get a COVID test.'”
In a few days, she felt good. New data suggests that people are well protected after the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine and about 95% effective after the second dose, according to Kris Ehresmann of MDH.
“The vaccine is 95% effective, which means that theoretically out of 100 people vaccinated, there may be five who do not have the same level of response to provide protection,” said Ehresmann.
The MDH sent a warning to health professionals this week, asking them to look for people who tested positive for COVID 14 days after completing the second dose, whether symptomatic or asymptomatic.
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Although Sharon’s case is not considered a vaccine breakthrough, as his positive test came before the two-week limit after his second dose, health officials say it is a reminder to continue taking precautions.
“You still need to mask, you still need to make sure that you are distancing yourself socially and consider the mitigation guideline measures that we talked about last year,” said Ehresmann.
Karla says she is grateful that her mother has only mild symptoms.
“It is possible that, if she had not received the vaccine, the story would be entirely different,” she said.
MDH says it has had 14 revealing COVID cases confirmed in Minnesota. All of them were in healthcare professionals and were only detected because they are routinely tested for work. In addition, all had mild symptoms or no symptoms at all.
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The CDC says that even getting the flu vaccine reduces the risk by 40% to 60%.