Why Scientists Worry About The CDC's Approach To COVID Breakthrough Infections : Shots ... - 0 views
-
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stopped tracking every case that occurs when a COVID-19 vaccine fails to protect someone. Instead, the agency is focusing on people who get very sick or die.
-
Critics argue the strategy could miss important information that could leave the U.S. vulnerable, including early signs of new variants that are better at outsmarting the vaccines.
-
But at least 2,298 fully vaccinated people have been hospitalized, and at least 439 people have died from COVID-19, according to the CDC.
- ...6 more annotations...
-
More than 10,000 of the 101 million people who were fully vaccinated as of April 30 caught the virus, according to a recent CDC report.
-
If scientists can't sequence genes from the virus, there's not much chance these people are contagious, and there's not much scientists can learn about the virus by studying them, the CDC and other researchers say.
-
Investigating the full spectrum of breakthrough infections could provide crucial information, including clues about whether some vaccines are working better than others and whether breakthroughs are happening more in some people than others, Bright and others say.
-
"These variants are spreading, and if you're just looking at the small percentage, then you're really missing the big picture,"
-
Careful study of breakthrough infections also could provide useful information for improving the vaccines as well as revelations about possible long-term health effects of these infections on people who don't initially develop symptoms or only become mildly ill.
-
At least some of those studies include examining the role of variants, according to Dr. Jennifer Verani, who's helping lead the CDC's vaccine effectiveness team.