The Belt...

 

On May 1, the CDC transitioned from monitoring all breakthrough COVID-19 cases to monitoring only those where patients were hospitalized or died, a move that is wise. It’s important to shift from looking at cases to only looking at serious disease, as the vaccination of high-risk individuals has decoupled cases from hospitalizations and deaths what flattening the curve was initially about.

Many of those who were hospitalized and died from a breakthrough infection were elderly or immunocompromised, and that confirms the notion that people who fall into those categories “should take the belt-and-suspenders approach” because their immune systems don’t respond as well to the vaccine. 

The recommendation: “Get vaccinated, wear a mask, avoid large groups and continue to be careful.”

Dr. John Sellick, an infectious disease expert and professor of medicine at the University at Buffalo, tells Yahoo Life that the average person shouldn’t worry about breakthrough infections. 

“For those of us who are of average health, are fully vaccinated and don’t have severe underlying medical problems, breakthrough infections are unlikely to be a huge problem,” he says.

 “But highly immunosuppressed people have to be careful, just in case.”