Laurence Reisman | 30 Apr, 2021
Real-world studies show efficacy
Three real-world studies from the United Kingdom cited similar effectiveness of the vaccines, the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota noted in March.
Nationally, the CDC reported in April, almost 400 of the nation’s 5,800 breakthrough cases (among 76 million Americans fully vaccinated at the time) required hospitalization; 74 died, USA TODAY reported. More than 40% of the infections were in people 60 or over and 29% were asymptomatic.
“All of the available vaccines have been proven effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalizations and deaths,” CDC spokeswoman Kristen Nordlund said in an email to USA TODAY. “However, like is seen with other vaccines, we expect thousands of vaccine breakthrough cases will occur even though the vaccine is working as expected.”
How do some of these numbers compare to the Treasure Coast? It’s difficult to make an apples-to-apples comparison because of the lag between vaccinations and reports of breakthrough cases.
But here are some numbers that show how effective the vaccines have been locally.
Breakthrough cases represented a mere 1% of 8,125 Treasure Coast COVID-19 positive tests given over two months, according to DOH records.
Through March 31, 195,352 vaccinations had been given on the Treasure Coast.
While there are outliers, such as one death USA TODAY reported on recently from South Carolina, few breakthrough cases will get that far, according to a Vero Beach infectious disease specialist who has been in the thick of the battle against COVID-19.
“We will see some cases in vaccinated people, but many will be asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic,” said Dr. Gerald Pierone, chief medical officer and founding physician of Whole Family Health Center, which has been conducting clinical trials of potential COVID-19 treatments in Indian River and St. Lucie counties.
For the complete article: https://www.tcpalm.com/story/opinion/columnists/laurence-reisman/2021/04/30/how-many-treasure-coast-residents-got-vaccinated-covid-19-opinion/4880416001/
