When a vaccinated person gets COVID-19, it’s considered a breakthrough infection.
There is a common misconception that vaccinated individuals cannot get COVID-19. However, even those who have been vaccinated can still get the virus, they’re just likely to experience much less severity of symptoms and are less likely to die.
A recent study from the Centers for Disease Control revealed that unvaccinated individuals are 11 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than those who are vaccinated.
The Delta variant is 50% more contagious than the previous version of COVID-19. A single person typically spreads it to 3.5 to 4 people, and the disease replicates more easily in unvaccinated people. The risk for COVID-19 breakthrough infection in fully vaccinated people cannot be completely eliminated as long as the virus continues to spread throughout the community. That is why more people need to be vaccinated and why even fully vaccinated people still need to follow the public health measures to reduce community transmissions.
Why is it important to stop breakthrough infections?
Vaccinations are developed to stop the spread of diseases. In this case, it was for COVID-19. The original vaccine can still be effective in new variants, as we are seeing with Delta, however, the more mutations that arise, the less effective the original vaccine will be.
Every time there is a new variant, it’s less likely the vaccine will be efficient and that is when breakthrough infections will happen.
This is why people need to get vaccinated because it’s the only way to stop the pandemic.
A good way to look at COVID-19 pandemic is to go back in history and look at smallpox which was is a very contagious and often deadly disease.
In 1949, the United States experienced its last natural outbreak of smallpox. In 1980, the 33rd World Health Assembly declared smallpox had officially been eradicated. Today, smallpox is something that we don’t have to think about, that is because our parents, grandparents, and fellow citizens got the smallpox vaccine.
Stopping breakthrough infections means helping to prevent new variants and stopping the spread of COVID-19. Getting vaccinated means protecting the next generation, just like previous generations have done for us.
When you get vaccinated you are not just doing it for yourself, you’re doing it for your family, your peers, and your community.
To get vaccinated:
- Make a vaccine appointment at no cost by contacting the University Student Health Center at 775-784-6598. The Student Health Center continues to offer daily COVID-19 testing by appointment as well.
- Make a vaccine appointment with the Washoe County Health District.
- Text your zip code to 438829 to get three locations near you with vaccines in stock.
- Use the COVID-19 Vaccine Locator from Immunize Nevada.
