Less than 0.08 percent of fully vaccinated Americans have tested positive for breakthrough COVID-19 infections.
NBC News reports that 125,682 “breakthrough” cases in 38 states represent less than 0.08 percent of the 164.2 million people who have been fully vaccinated since January, which amounts to about one in every 1,300 people.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a breakthrough COVID-19 infection is when a fully vaccinated person becomes infected with the coronavirus without any symptoms, experiences symptoms, is hospitalized or dies from the infection.
Federal and state officials are still trying to understand the breakthrough rate, according to Dr. Marcus Plescia, a medical director for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. Plescia told NBC that while the percentage of breakthrough cases is significantly higher in the elderly and immuno-compromised than was once thought, the vaccines are still effective.
“Those who have been fully vaccinated and have a breakthrough case but are not symptomatic and not part of a regular testing protocol may never be captured in these numbers,” Robert Long, a spokesperson for Maine Department of Health and Human Services added.
Roughly 57.5 percent of the U.S. population has received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and about 49.5 percent is fully vaccinated, CDC data shows.
The news comes amid Florida’s recent surge in new confirmed coronavirus cases.
According to the CDC, Florida recorded more than 21,000 new infections on Friday, marking its highest single-day total since the start of the pandemic. Florida’s previous peak was 19,334 confirmed cases on Jan. 7, 2021, well before the COVID-19 vaccines were widely available.
