COVID-19 ‘breakthrough cases’ reported in Oregon

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• The Oregon Health Authority announced on Friday that four individuals contracted COVID-19 after receiving their second doses of the vaccine.
• The agency defined the incident as ‘breakthrough cases,’ saying that infected people got the virus at least 14 days following their second dose.
• There was also one same case in North Carolina, according to NBC affiliate WCNC-TV in Charlotte.

Health authorities revealed that four persons from Oregon tested positive for COVID-19 after getting the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

In a series of tweets on Friday, Oregon’s Health Authority said that there were two cases in Yamhill county and another two in Lane county. They were either asymptomatic or non-severe cases.

“We are working with our local and federal public health partners to investigate and determine case origin,” the agency wrote. “Genome sequencing is underway, and we expect results next week.”

Per the agency, the people who were infected with the virus were “breakthrough cases.” This meant that they contracted COVID-19 within 14 days after obtaining both shots.

The group also noted that more similar cases could come out.

“Clinical trials of both vaccines presently in use included breakthrough cases. In those cases, even though the participants got Covid, the vaccines reduced the severity of illness,” the agency wrote.

“Based on what we know about vaccines for other diseases and early data from clinical trials, experts believe that getting a Covid-19 vaccine may also help keep you from getting seriously ill even if you do get the virus… Getting as many Oregonians as possible vaccinated remains a critical objective to ending the pandemic,” the tweet continued.

The Health Authority’s proclamation happened on the same day where health officer Dean Sidelinger revealed that they were seeing a decrease of COVID-19 infections daily in the past several weeks.

“These decreases are a testament to the actions all Oregonians are taking to slow the spread of Covid-19 and the sacrifices made – thank you,” he said at a news conference on Friday.

According to the agency, there were 149,576 recorded COVID-19 cases in Oregon as of Friday.

NBC affiliate WCNC-TV in Charlotte also reported another breakthrough case in North Carolina. Per the state’s Department of Health and Human Services, the identified individual had only mild symptoms and no longer needed to undergo hospitalization.

Source: NBC News