Fully Vaccinated Couple Gets COVID-19 Days Before Wedding

A couple from Massachusetts tested positive for COVID-19 days before their wedding date despite being fully vaccinated against the novel coronavirus.

Tyler and Kristen Stillings, a couple from Ashburnham, were scheduled to hold their wedding ceremony this August when they began feeling symptoms commonly associated with COVID-19.

“I had a slight fever and I called him crying and I was like we need to go get tested,” Kristen told CBS Boston.

Tyler, who felt fatigued, tested positive for COVID-19 after getting an at-home rapid test. The couple later got a PCR nasal swab test where they both were found positive for COVID-19.

Both Tyler and Kristen only suffered from mild symptoms, which they credit to being fully vaccinated with the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine in March.

“The worst that happened is that we’re tired, we slept it off, we stayed in bed. So, the vaccine definitely helps your symptoms,” Kristen said.

The number of breakthrough infections has been on the rise across the United States, although still found to be rare.

In Knoxville, TN, 14-year-old Eric Quinley tested positive for COVID-19 despite having received both doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. The teen also suffered mild symptoms, which include congestion and a sore throat, according to WBIR 10 News.

In Tennessee, only 0.18% of fully vaccinated residents have been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus. Most cases were also not severe.

Experts note that breakthrough infections happen for several reasons, including that the vaccines currently being deployed are not 100% effective against COVID-19 and the spread of the more infectious Delta variant.

Health experts also note that there is incomplete data into how long the immunity from vaccines last following inoculation, according to CNBC.

In many states, people who were not fully vaccinated against the virus were five times more likely to be hospitalized than people who have been inoculated. The unvaccinated were also eight times more likely to die from coronavirus than the fully vaccinated, according to an analysis conducted by The New York Times.

At least 125,000 fully vaccinated Americans have tested positive for COVID-19. Among those, 1,400 have died. The figures represented less than 0.08% of the more than 160 million people who have been fully vaccinated, according to figures collected by NBC News.