AUSTIN (KXAN)– After speaking to a Central Texas woman on Monday about contracting COVID-19 after getting vaccinated, KXAN wanted to find out how many others had a similar experience.
There have been 13 people across the state of Texas who have tested positive for the virus 14 days or more after receiving their second COVID-19 shot, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. That’s called a “vaccine breakthrough.”
That’s out of nearly three million Texans who have been fully vaccinated, according to the state’s dashboard.
“There is never 100% immunity through vaccination, so a small number of these cases are inevitable. Immunity depends on each person’s reaction to the vaccine, and those who are older typically take longer to build immunity through vaccine. However, all three COVID-19 vaccines now being administered are proven to prevent severe illness, hospitalization and death for those fully vaccinated,” explains DSHS spokesperson Douglas Loveday.
The dashboard indicates that 112,559 people in Travis County have been fully vaccinated and Austin Public Health says fewer than 12 of those people have since contracted COVID-19.
The agency couldn’t give a more specific number, saying that number includes both vaccine breakthroughs as well as people who have been re-infected with COVID-19 according to CDC parameters.
“Say they got an initial COVID diagnosis and within 90 days got another diagnosis — they would be a reinfection case,” explains APH spokesperson Matt Lara.
Lara says APH tracks vaccine breakthroughs and re-infections, which are both rare cases, one-by-one.
“Austin Public Health must be notified of any positive results for COVID-19, among various other diseases,” he says. “During the case investigation process, they would find out and typically see that someone has been vaccinated for— against COVID and then they’re 14 days past receiving the vaccination because that’s really when vaccination takes its full efficacy.”
He says APH doesn’t do any further testing to determine why a vaccine breakthrough occurred but it does contact trace to determine how the patient may have contracted the virus, as it does with all other COVID-19 positive cases.
“Who were you around? What are the locations you went to?” Lara says.
In a press conference Friday, Austin Public Health says overall, COVID-19 cases are dropping off and it hopes that remains the case after spring break.
“We are seeing numbers of new cases decline and we hope it stays that way,” said Janet Pichette, Austin Public Health Chief Epidemiologist. “However, we know that people have been out enjoying spring break and have possibly placed themselves in situations where they gathered with people without masks or may have unnecessarily exposed themselves.”
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