Delta variant: 'We’re going to see breakthrough cases' and that's OK, doctor says
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The recent COVID outbreak among the New York Yankees baseball team underscores the fact that the coronavirus vaccines are not 100% effective but are still crucial to preventing hospitalization and death.
“There’s a lot of talk about how people are getting COVID anyway, even though they’re vaccinated, and that is true and that is expected because there’s no vaccine that’s 100% all the time,” Dr. Esther Choo, professor of emergency medicine at Oregon Health and Science University, said on Yahoo Finance Live (video above). “So we are seeing these breakthrough cases. Many of them are asymptomatic, totally without symptoms, and they’re getting tested as part of contact tracing or other screening so that they can go on to certain activities or they have very mild symptoms.”
In the case of the Yankees, there are reportedly six players who tested positive, including All-Star Aaron Judge. According to reports, five of the six players are vaccinated and asymptomatic and were only tested as part of contact tracing protocol. The remaining player is unvaccinated and was the one displaying symptoms, though the identity of that player has not been publicized.
“For us, this should be a big illustrative case of how this can go down,” Choo said. “The fortunate thing is that nobody is gravely ill. We know for sure that three of the players in the Yankees are vaccinated and did test positive. And so, we’re seeing what we know to be true, which is we’re going to see breakthrough cases.”
All of the vaccines approved in the U.S. protect against serious illness and death. Pfizer (PFE)'s and Moderna (MRNA)’s vaccines are 95% and 94.1% effective against basic illness, respectively, while Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)’s vaccine is 72% effective. (According to Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman, all three vaccines were used among the six players.)
As of July 6, there was a 0.003% chance of a severe breakthrough case of COVID.
“Even when there are breakthrough cases, for now, we’re seeing that people still have protections that are keeping them from becoming seriously ill, getting hospitalized, and being at higher risk for death,” Choo said. “This remains a very successful vaccine [initiative], and the message is people still need to get vaccinated. It does mean that we can’t really rest on our laurels.”
Why wearing masks is still important amid the Delta variant
The Delta variant now accounts for a majority of COVID cases in the U.S., according to the CDC. And while the vaccines are reportedly effective against it, the strain is said to be more contagious than other variants that emerged earlier in the pandemic.