Another Term You'll Have to Learn - "Breakthrough"


 

Breakthrough describes Covid infections among the fully vaccinated. It's our new reality.


In the United States, so-called breakthrough cases — infections among the vaccinated — were less common before Omicron, affecting just a small percentage of vaccinated people, by most counts. Now breakthrough cases among the vaccinated are fast becoming the status quo.

The highly contagious Omicron stands to make the notion of a surprise breakthrough infection “completely irrelevant,” said Ali Ellebedy, an associate professor of pathology and immunology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. This was always bound to happen: As more Americans get vaccinated and more variants circulate, more infections are expected among the vaccinated. But Omicron is speeding up the process.

“There are many flavors of infection,” said Marc Lipsitch, a professor of epidemiology at Harvard and the director of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics. There’s infection, which means the virus is replicating in one’s body, and there’s infectiousness, which means the virus is replicating in parts of the body in such a way that it could infect other people.

Initially, being fully vaccinated meant protection against most flavors of infection and their effects.

In September 2021, cases of Covid in unvaccinated people were about six times as high as the vaccinated, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. Deaths from Covid among the unvaccinated were also around 12 times as high as deaths from Covid among the vaccinated. Serious illness and hospitalizations were also less common among the vaccinated. And even when they became infected, the vaccinated appeared less likely to spread the virus to others.

But with Omicron, being fully vaccinated does not appear to provide the same level of protection, in terms of infection and transmission. While the vaccinated still appear likely to avoid serious illness, there remains a risk they will experience symptoms. They may also pass the virus to someone else.

Our new reality.

Annual shots, as with seasonal flu variants, and boosters, as with tetanus, have always been an accepted part of infectious disease prevention. And outside of the Covid pandemic, no one really speaks of breakthrough infections, though the term may still apply. In the future, getting Covid-19 boosters and breakthroughs will feel like the new normal, Dr. Ellebedy said.

While SARS-CoV-2 infections among the vaccinated may feel like a personal problem, they actually represent a societal and global one. In the United States, for example, the Delta variant has already pummeled health care infrastructure, putting strain on providers and making it more difficult for everyone from cancer patients to people experiencing appendicitis to seek care.

Comments

  1. Bill MalcolmDecember 20, 2021 at 3:25 AM

    Seems completely out-of-date , frankly. Breakthrough has been talked about here in Nova Scotia since September. And now with Omicron tearing the place apart with over a quadrupling of cases from Sunday Dec 12 to Dec 19, we now have the highest new Covid positive infection per capita rate in the country. Omicron infects double and triple vaxxed people, but we don't really know the consequences yet. All we have is hope it won't be too bad. Contact tracing is kaput -- you personally are supposed to inform your close contacts if you test positive. I don't know the names or contact info for grocery store clerks, and neither does anyone else, so good luck with that, but it shows how far down the rabbit hole we've fallen.

    So many people who ARE known to positive cases sufferers as close contacts are isolating for 72 hours before getting a PCR test, that there's a backup in appointments just for that test. All up to Xmas Day are booked, I just heard. NS Public Health say tens of thousands of people are affected one way or the other. And we are warned PCR results will take three days instead of one. Businesses are closing for lack of staff.

    Merry Xmas.

    There's your future in a week or two out in BC. A certain kind of chaos. As for the unvaxxed dumbfucks clucking around like demented chickens, prepare to meet your maker. Double-vaxxed people will probably mostly avoid bad infections worthy of hospitalization, but the unvaxxed dimbulb conspiracy theorists and rugged individualists of the minor intellect variety are playing with fire.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Disaffected LibDecember 20, 2021 at 6:30 AM

      Hi, Bill, and a Merry Christmas to you as well.

      I was talking to a pal up in Courtenay on Saturday. He surprised me by saying that he'd shoveled 5 inches of snow from his driveway. Here in Paradise Lost we didn't get anything.

      He then went on to tell me that his town was a major hotspot for Covid infections. I'm told it traced to an event where several hundred fundamentalists gathered for a rally. They apparently came from far and wide and, it seems, brought plenty of virus with them. Merry Christmas, Fundies!

      I'm back in lockdown, just me and the beagle. Fortunately I'm 2+1 on vaccines so I hope, if infected, to be spared the worst. That said, this is getting old.

      We were hoping for a much different Christmas. My daughter flew in from Amsterdam. I may not get to see her before she has to fly back. Then again, thousands have it worse and we'll see a lot more of that as January unfolds.

      I know a couple of those "unvaxxed dimbulb conspiracy theorists." There are parts of this island that are pretty f@#king weird. I came across an exchange they were having about gyms that we're opening up after hours to welcome the unvaxxed in to work out. Then, in a panic, they deleted their remarks lest someone turn them in. A pox on them all.

      Delete

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