Breakthrough club

[INTJ10]

DH and I both got Covid last month, after our fully vaccinated son gave it to his fully vaccinated parents.

Luckily we both recovered very quickly, with minimal inconvenience. However, a month later I am just noticing that I can't smell anything. What a blessing that was last week when the dog got sick in the middle of the night all over the flippin' house. Just trying to make lemonade out of lemons here.

I do hope it comes back. I will miss all the smells of the holidays.

We lost our sense of smell pretty quickly (days) and it has been improving over time. The study I read said that was typical for Covid. Maybe something else is happening in your case or you just noticed it.

 

[Time2]

Glad to say the county I'm in is at 51% of the eligible vaccinated. Ya, I know, not good, but it was in the low 30s not very long ago. We had 181 known cases in the last 7 days, that's 0.1% of the population. We had 12 deaths.
From the CDC tracker.
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tr...orida|12005|Risk|community_transmission_level


Our two local hospitals are at 85% filled inpatient beds and 76% filled ICU beds.

 

[RobbieB]

My friend's wife has covid after fully vaxxed, he doesn't. Keeping far away.

 

[tmm99]

DH and I both got Covid last month, after our fully vaccinated son gave it to his fully vaccinated parents.

Luckily we both recovered very quickly, with minimal inconvenience. However, a month later I am just noticing that I can't smell anything. What a blessing that was last week when the dog got sick in the middle of the night all over the flippin' house. Just trying to make lemonade out of lemons here.

I do hope it comes back. I will miss all the smells of the holidays.

Gosh, I hope your sense of smell comes back very soon. This is the first case I heard that someone who was fully vaccinated got infected by another fully vaccinated individual. How long ago was everyone's second shot?

 

[EastWest Gal]

It’s been our informal observation that most of the breakthrough cases for Pfizer (lower dose, only 3 weeks apart). If you get a breakthrough case, what vaccine did you get?

 

[gattara]

My 18 year old nephew had his second Pfizer vaccine on April 29. First year of college, had sore throat last Thurs., came home for break last Friday, tested negative for Covid and strep on Fri. Over the next several days he developed sinus congestion, a lot of coughing, and what looked like pink eye symptoms. Coughing is awful at night. Back to doctor on Tuesday; tested positive for Covid. As of Tuesday, he has been quarantining in his bedroom, everyone in household wearing masks. Thankfully my sister, BIL and my niece have been fully vaccinated w/Pfizer and tested negative so far. Nephew has had a couple of rough nights with the coughing, congestion and a nosebleed. I'm hoping to hear of improvement of his symptoms soon. Healthy, fit kid, with occasional asthma his only underlying condition.

I am surprised an 18 year old had a breakthrough case with these symptoms. Everyone in his school is vaccinated but I know he has been socializing a lot with his friends - restaurants, sporting events, etc.

 

[Aerides]

Healthy, fit kid, with occasional asthma his only underlying condition.
I am surprised an 18 year old had a breakthrough case with these symptoms. Everyone in his school is vaccinated but I know he has been socializing a lot with his friends - restaurants, sporting events, etc.

Guessing first test was a rapid? 2nd a PCR?

Either way, yeah...it's the asthma. Many of the cases I read about early in the pandemic of younger people getting really sick were asthmatic. If it were my nephew I'd be urging his parents to get him the Monoclonal Antibody treatment to head things off.

 

[gattara]

Guessing first test was a rapid? 2nd a PCR?

Either way, yeah...it's the asthma. Many of the cases I read about early in the pandemic of younger people getting really sick were asthmatic. If it were my nephew I'd be urging his parents to get him the Monoclonal Antibody treatment to head things off.

Thanks for the feedback about asthma. Friday was rapid test. Tuesday both rapid and PCR were positive.

I know my sister has been in close contact with his doctors and they had a virtual appt yesterday. I'll learn more today.

 

[Another Reader]

With asthma as a comorbidity, I would ask about the monoclonal antibodies. He is right at the end of the window to get it.

 

[anethum]

It’s been our informal observation that most of the breakthrough cases for Pfizer (lower dose, only 3 weeks apart). If you get a breakthrough case, what vaccine did you get?

The Washington, DC, city government has some interesting breakthrough case data on this page:

https://coronavirus.dc.gov/data/vaccination

You then have to scroll down a bit and click on "Breakthrough Cases" on the right side.

The page gives the number of fully vaccinated individuals in the city for each of the 3 authorized vaccines, the number of breakthrough cases for each group, and the percentage of individuals in each group who had a breakthrough case. As of October 11, there are a total of 431,408 fully vaccinated individuals in the city, 157,503 got Moderna, 238,999 got Pfizer, and 34,906 had JnJ. 0.80% of Moderna recipients have had a breakthrough case. 1.18% of Pfizer recipients have had a breakthrough case. And 2.11% of JnJ recipients have had a breakthrough case.

These percentages are based on total breakthrough cases, both confirmed and self-reported. I noticed that Pfizer & JnJ had more self-reported cases (on a percentage basis) included in their totals than Moderna. I don't know if that's of any significance.

 

[Scuba]

The Washington, DC, city government has some interesting breakthrough case data on this page:

https://coronavirus.dc.gov/data/vaccination

You then have to scroll down a bit and click on "Breakthrough Cases" on the right side.

The page gives the number of fully vaccinated individuals in the city for each of the 3 authorized vaccines, the number of breakthrough cases for each group, and the percentage of individuals in each group who had a breakthrough case. As of October 11, there are a total of 431,408 fully vaccinated individuals in the city, 157,503 got Moderna, 238,999 got Pfizer, and 34,906 had JnJ. 0.80% of Moderna recipients have had a breakthrough case. 1.18% of Pfizer recipients have had a breakthrough case. And 2.11% of JnJ recipients have had a breakthrough case.

These percentages are based on total breakthrough cases, both confirmed and self-reported. I noticed that Pfizer & JnJ had more self-reported cases (on a percentage basis) included in their totals than Moderna. I don't know if that's of any significance.

Good to hear that the breakthrough percentage is very small for all three vaccines.

 

[audreyh1]

Here is recent CDC data on cases or deaths by vaccination status. You can click on Vaccine Product or Age Group to see detailed breakdowns.
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#rates-by-vaccine-status

 

[INTJ10]

It’s been our informal observation that most of the breakthrough cases for Pfizer (lower dose, only 3 weeks apart). If you get a breakthrough case, what vaccine did you get?

We had the two shot Pfizer vaccine before our infection. Haven’t had the booster.

 

[harllee]

Had lunch with a friend yesterday whose sister, BIL and nephew (all fully vaccinated with Pfizer) all came down with breakthrough cases. They were not very sick, just had cold like symptoms. Now a month or so later all 3 have developed more serious problems, one lost sense of small, one developed "Covid asthma" and the nephew (in his 30s, otherwise healthy) has developed heart issues. This is what is scary to me about the breakthrough cases--you might later develop ongoing health issues.

 

[Another Reader]

Had lunch with a friend yesterday whose sister, BIL and nephew (all fully vaccinated with Pfizer) all came down with breakthrough cases. They were not very sick, just had cold like symptoms. Now a month or so later all 3 have developed more serious problems, one lost sense of small, one developed "Covid asthma" and the nephew (in his 30s, otherwise healthy) has developed heart issues. This is what is scary to me about the breakthrough cases--you might later develop ongoing health issues.

Because many of the breakthrough infections are mild or even asymptomatic, the assumption was that Long Covid was a highly unlikely consequence. That assumption has turned out to be wrong. Waiting for some reliable numbers on this.

 

[Time2]

Good to hear that the breakthrough percentage is very small for all three vaccines.

It is still not enough to convince my anti vaxxer friend. He sends wrestling videos that I zero interest in and I send him results of vaccinated vs Unvacinated people and I suspect he has the same interest.


And, he is still not invited to our twice a week breakfast with the guys.

 

[INTJ10]

it is still not enough to convince my anti vaxxer friend. He sends wrestling videos that i zero interest in and i send him results of vaccinated vs unvacinated people and i suspect he has the same interest.


And, he is still not invited to our twice a week breakfast with the guys.

 

[tmm99]

Had lunch with a friend yesterday whose sister, BIL and nephew (all fully vaccinated with Pfizer) all came down with breakthrough cases. They were not very sick, just had cold like symptoms. Now a month or so later all 3 have developed more serious problems, one lost sense of small, one developed "Covid asthma" and the nephew (in his 30s, otherwise healthy) has developed heart issues. This is what is scary to me about the breakthrough cases--you might later develop ongoing health issues.

Sorry to hear. Do you know when they received their second shot?

 

[harllee]

Sorry to hear. Do you know when they received their second shot?

Yes all 3 had 2 shots of Pfizer. This was before boosters were approved

 

[tmm99]

OK, thanks. Do you know when they received their second shot? If they received their second jab in, say, February,(8 months ago) the effectiveness of the vaccine has waned a lot, so I would expect that they would have more symptoms than people who had their second shot in June for example...

 

[harllee]

OK, thanks. Do you know when they received their second shot? If they received their second jab in, say, February,(8 months ago) the effectiveness of the vaccine has waned a lot, so I would expect that they would have more symptoms than people who had their second shot in June for example...

The sister and BIL are in their 50s, probably got second shot in March. The nephew in in his 30s, probably got second shot April or May. They got sick in August with cold like symptoms which went away and the other symptoms came in September and have lingered on. The brother in law got sick first (thinks he got Covid at work) and gave it to the other two. They had all been out and about and all 3 work outside the home.

 

[tmm99]

The sister and BIL are in their 50s, probably got second shot in March. The nephew in in his 30s, probably got second shot April or May. They got sick in August with cold like symptoms which went away and the other symptoms came in September and have lingered on. The brother in law got sick first (thinks he got Covid at work) and gave it to the other two. They had all been out and about and all 3 work outside the home.

Thank you, harllee. I see that it probably hasn't been that long since the youngest got his second shot. It's really scary that he's experiencing the long-hauler type of symptoms. I was hoping the fully vaccinated won't get long-hauler-type symptoms if the vaccine is still active, but I don't know what to think now...

I play volleyball with a mask on indoors with other fully vaccinated people who are maskless. I think I will continue to play this way for a while...

I hope your friends recover from lingering symptoms very soon. Keep us updated if you can.

Thanks.

 

[Another Reader]

Thank you, harllee. I see that it probably hasn't been that long since the youngest got his second shot. It's really scary that he's experiencing the long-hauler type of symptoms. I was hoping the fully vaccinated won't get long-hauler-type symptoms if the vaccine is still active, but I don't know what to think now...

A number of breakthrough victims are becoming Long Haulers. There appears to be something in some people's immune systems that prevents them from clearing the virus. We know T cell exhaustion is common in Long Haulers, likely because of viral persistence. Prevalence is being determined now.

 

[tmm99]

A number of breakthrough victims are becoming Long Haulers. There appears to be something in some people's immune systems that prevents them from clearing the virus. We know T cell exhaustion is common in Long Haulers, likely because of viral persistence. Prevalence is being determined now.

Thanks. Do you have a good article/link for this? I found the article below but it's not too convincing and the duration of the symptoms seems too short IMO...

https://www.npr.org/sections/health...-about-breakthrough-infections-and-long-covid

Studies look for answers about long COVID
A small Israeli study recently provided the first evidence that breakthrough infections could lead to long COVID symptoms, although the numbers are small. Out of about 1,500 vaccinated health care workers, 39 got infected, and seven reported symptoms that lasted more than six weeks.

And a large British study subsequently found about 5% of people who got infected — even though they were fully vaccinated — experienced persistent symptoms, although the study also found that the odds of having symptoms for 28 days or more were halved by having two vaccine doses.

"I think it's a reasonable concern. But it's too early. I think we need to follow these patients. It's quite recent that they've been recognized. So at the moment we don't have that answer," Nath says, adding that if there is a risk, he suspects it's probably very low.

 

[Koolau]

One small piece of anecdotal evidence: My friend who had breakthrough infection from attending a funeral (that I also attended) had received the P vax. DW and I had the M vax. (But, friend's DW had P vax. as well.) Who knows?

Perhaps in a couple of years, we'll know a lot more than we do now. In any case, I am thankful for the vax. (no matter the brand) and the apparent protective effect it is providing to us. I've already lost two unvaxed friends. Breakthrough seems a lot less of an issue when compared to that eventuality. YMMV