TRENTON, NJ – Between December 15th and April 23rd, there have been 1,319 ‘breakthrough’ COVID-19 cases. A breakthrough case is defined as a positive test result in an individual that has been fully vaccinated. This figure represents .06% of those who have been fully vaccinated.
Despite the number of breakout cases, Governor Murphy said the majority of deaths and hospitalizations are among the unvaccinated, “The overwhelming folks who are getting sick and getting hospitalized right now are not vaccinated.”
While vaccination is not a 100% guarantee that a person won’t contract the virus, those who are vaccinated are more likely to have a less serious case of the illness. Of those, the Department of Health revealed that 9 had died and 30 hospitalizations among breakout cases.
“COVID-19 vaccines are a critical tool to bring the pandemic under control However, no vaccines are 100% effective at preventing illness, so some cases among fully vaccinated individuals are expected. As part of their surveillance, Dr. Lifshitz’s team has been reviewing data in which fully vaccinated individuals tested positive for COVID-19, which are known as breakthrough cases,” Dr. Judy Persichilli said. “Their analysis has provided reassuring results that the three COVID-19 vaccines are extremely effective. Between December 15th, 2020, and April 23rd, the Department identified 1,319 breakthrough cases, which represents .06% of those fully vaccinated. That means 99.94% of individuals vaccinated did not test positive for COVID-19. This high percentage demonstrates that breakthrough infections are extremely rare. As expected, people who are fully vaccinated had less severe illness based on the number of hospitalizations and deaths.”
“The Department found that 92 individuals with COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough infections were hospitalized. However, only 30 of those hospitalizations were reported to be related to COVID-19 illness, so 92 hospitalized, only 30 reported to be related to COVID-19 illness,” Persichilli continued. “There were 14 total deaths among individuals with COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough infections. However, only seven of those deaths were reported to be related to COVID-19, so a total of 92 individuals were hospitalized, 30 of the hospitalized were reported to be related to COVID-19 and seven of those individuals were reported – their deaths were reported to be related to COVID-19. Dr. Lifshitz will talk more about the details of the analysis in a minute.”