Representative Stephen Lynch tests positive for COVID-19, despite receiving both doses of vaccine

Congressman Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) Tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, despite having completed a full course of vaccination against the virus.

Lynch tested positive more than a week after taking the second of two doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine and days after his office learned that a team member had tested positive. Although the two vaccines approved for use in the United States have been tested to be about 95% effective in preventing infections, experts warned that even those who were vaccinated are at risk of becoming infected.

“This afternoon, the US representative, Stephen F. Lynch, received a positive test result for COVID-19 after a member of the Congressman’s office in Boston tested positive earlier in the week,” said the communications director for Lynch, Molly Rose Tarpey, in a statement. “Congressman Lynch received the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine and subsequently received a negative COVID-19 test before attending President Biden’s inauguration.”

Tarpey added that Lynch “remains asymptomatic and feels good”, but will remain “quarantined and will vote by proxy in Congress for the next few weeks”. It is not clear when Lynch received the second dose of the vaccine, but maximum immunity to the virus is achieved at least a week or two after completing the course of any of the approved vaccines. Pfizer said protection could be expected a week after the second dose. Tarpey refused Newsweek’s request for more comments or details.

A relatively small number of those who have been fully vaccinated still contract COVID-19, although those who contract the virus after vaccination may be more likely to contract a milder form of the disease. Only one case of severe COVID-19 was observed in a vaccinated person during Pfizer trials involving more than 43,000 participants. Receiving the vaccine cannot, by itself, cause COVID-19 because it does not contain any viruses that would be able to infect a person.

Public health experts emphasized that those who have been fully vaccinated should not assume that they are immune and continue to practice preventive measures such as wearing face masks and maintaining social distance to protect themselves and others. Pictures of Lynch in Congress and elsewhere in the days after taking office show him wearing a mask.

Another US Democratic representative from Massachusetts, Lori Trahan, tested positive for the virus just a day earlier. Francis Grubar, director of communications for Trahan, said The Boston Globe that the deputy had received the first of two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine last week. Like Lynch, she is also asymptomatic and is currently quarantined with plans to attend hearings and votes in the House remotely.