This Is Roughly How Many Americans Have Gotten COVID After Being Fully Vaccinated

As more states report coronavirus breakthrough cases, where individuals test positive for COVID-19 after being fully vaccinated for the virus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released approximate data on these infections.

Out of the over 78 million people that have been fully vaccinated in the U.S. as of Thursday, the CDC said that it had reports of about 5,800 breakthrough cases, The Wall Street Journal reported. The breakthrough cases represent about 0.008% of the American public who are fully vaccinated.

The vaccine breakthrough cases are not unexpected as none of the COVID vaccines approved for emergency use are 100% effective. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have shown to be up to 95% effective against COVID-19, while the Johnson & Johnson shot, which was recommended to be paused for use by the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday over blood clot concerns, has a 66% efficacy.

In a hearing before the House Select Committee on Thursday, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said the agency is “keeping a close eye” on the COVID cases in fully vaccinated people, NBC News reported.

“Some of these breakthroughs are, of course, failures of an immune response in the host and then some of them, we are worried might be related to a variant that is circulating, so we’re looking at both,” Walensky continued in her testimony.

A CDC spokesperson told NBC News that of the 5,800 breakthrough cases, the majority of people with COVID infections were not hospitalized, and 29% had asymptomatic infections.

The CDC told the WSJ that of the cases, 65% were in women, over 40% were aged 60 and older, 7% were hospitalized, and 74 people died after being infected. The agency did not specify which vaccine make the people received or if the individuals had underlying health conditions.

While the information about the vaccine breakthrough cases is not publicly available, the CDC plans to start publishing the data on its website regularly starting April 19, according to NBC News.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, told the WSJ that “you will always see some breakthrough infections no matter the efficacy of your vaccine.”

“Before people get excited about the quantitative number of infections, they need to understand what the denominator is, and we’re going to see breakthroughs in numbers that are going to be well within the 90%, 95%, 97% effectiveness rates of the vaccines,” he added.

Vaccine breakthrough case has been reported in states such as Minnesota, Michigan, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, and South Carolina.

As of Thursday, the CDC reported that over 78.4 million Americans had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, accounting for 23.6% of the population.