In the United States, the COVID-19 pandemic started 18 months ago. In December 2020, vaccinations began, which greatly decreased the infection rate, but infections, while rare, have still been seen in fully vaccinated individuals. Infections with COVID-19 that arise, despite being fully vaccinated, have been denoted as breakthrough infections.
In a new publication in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Yale School of Medicine clinicians and researchers looked into breakthrough infections. They reviewed patient data from Yale New Haven Health for 969 patients hospitalized between March and July 2021, who at the time of hospital admission had a positive PCR test for SARS-CoV-2 .
Of the 969 patients, 54 were fully vaccinated at the time of hospitalization or symptom onset. Of the 54 patients, 14 suffered from severe illness, and four patients required admission to the medical intensive care unit.
Co-lead author Prerak V. Juthani shared the importance of the work. “When we started to analyze the data of the 14 fully vaccinated patients who had severe illness, we noted that these patients tended to be older with more comorbidities. We are working on better understanding what additional factors may be involved in developing severe COVID-19 infections after vaccination, so that we can identify strategies to prevent these cases in the future for others,” Juthani explained.
“While this paper focuses on breakthrough infections, over 94% of the hospitalized patients had not been fully vaccinated by the time of their hospitalization. This study demonstrates once again that these vaccines are extremely effective. Get the vaccine,” he reiterated.
Other collaborators on the paper include co-lead authors Akash Gupta, MD and Kelly A. Borges, and Christina C. Price, MD; Alfred I. Lee, MD, PhD; Christine H. Won, MD; and Hyung J. Chun, MD.
To learn more, read “Hospitalisation among vaccine breakthrough COVID-19 infections.”
The Department of Internal Medicine at Yale is among the nation's premier departments, bringing together an elite cadre of clinicians, investigators, and educators in one of the world's top medical schools. To learn more, visit Internal Medicine.