Members of the New York Yankees, U.S. Olympic gymnast Kara Eaker, and U.K. health secretary Sajid Javid are some of those diagnosed with what is called a “breakthrough infection.”
As scary as the term may sound, the bottom line is that the existing COVID-19 vaccines are still very good at preventing symptomatic infections, and breakthrough infections happen very rarely. But just how common and how dangerous are they? Here’s a guide to what you need to know.
What is ‘breakthrough infection?’
No vaccine is 100% effective. Dr. Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine was 80%-90% effective in preventing paralytic disease. Even for the gold standard measles vaccine, the efficacy was 94% among a highly vaccinated population during large outbreaks.
Comparably, clinical trials found the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna were 94%–95% effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19—much more protective than initially hoped.
A quick reminder: A vaccine efficacy of 95% does not mean that the…
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Source : fastcompany.com
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