BREAKTHROUGH INFECTIONS: More than half of COVID-19 cases in Iloilo City are vaccinated

Majority of the COVID-19 cases reported in Iloilo City in January 2022 are breakthrough infections or cases involving persons who were already vaccinated.

The City Epidemiology Surveillance Unit (CESU) reported that 2,888 out of the 4,189 cases recorded in the metro from Jan. 21 to 24 were vaccinated.

The 2,888 breakthrough infections include 2,759 fully vaccinated individuals while 129 are partially vaccinated.

From the almost 3,000 positive cases, CESU revealed that 1,326 are fully vaccinated with Sinovac vaccines; 598 are fully vaccinated with Astrazeneca; 364 are fully vaccinated with Pfizer jabs; 235 received two doses of Moderna; and 223 received the one-shot dose of Janssen vaccines.

Meanwhile, 661 of the infected individuals remain unvaccinated.

Data from the CESU also revealed that the most affected age group are young adults aged 21 to 30 years old.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has explained that fully vaccinated individuals and even partially vaccinated individuals can still be infected with COVID-19.

But Dr. Katherine O’Brien, WHO director of the Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals, stressed that this does not mean that vaccines are ineffective.

“The vaccines that we have against COVID are incredibly effective vaccines. But that doesn’t mean that 100 percent of people, 100 percent of the time are going to be protected against disease. There is no vaccine that provides that level of protection for any disease,” she said during in a “Science in 5” series of WHO.

According to O’Brien, there will still be cases of disease among people who were fully vaccinated and certainly among some people who were partially vaccinated.

“This doesn’t mean that the vaccines aren’t working. It doesn’t mean that there’s something wrong with the vaccines. What it does mean is that not everybody who receives vaccines has 100 percent protection,” she added.

WHO has also stressed the severity of disease among people who have a breakthrough infection is less severe than the severity of disease among people who are not vaccinated.

Hence, people who are fully vaccinated even when infected are less likely to develop severe cases.

In Iloilo City, majority of the positive cases are asymptomatic or manifest no symptoms of Covid-19.

Out of the more than 4,000 local cases, CESU reported that 3,011 are asymptomatic, 1,157 have mild symptoms, and only 21 are severe cases. (DG)