People who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can still test positive for the virus. Health officials have come to refer to that as a "breakthrough case" of the disease.Of vaccine failure, under the old definition of the word "vaccine".
But some health experts say the term can be misleading and misconstrued, especially as new variants have emerged and vaccination rates across the country have slowed.
"I think it was setting the vaccine up for an impossible standard that vaccines can’t possibly meet," said Jennifer Nuzzo, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and the lead epidemiologist for the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Testing Insights Initiative.
What "it" are you taking about, Jennifer? Fauci's promise to stop the virus with the Trumpian vaccine, or Biden's promise to 'shut it down' with by vaccinating every last man, woman, and child?
"There’s not a single vaccine that’s 100%," said Dr. Grant Fowler, family medicine department chair at TCU School of Medicine in Fort Worth. He also is chairman of the family medicine department at JPS Health Network. "Our whole goal is to [minimize COVID-19] in the population and protect the vulnerable."
Sounds like 'The Great Barrington Declaration' to me.
Nuzzo, who spoke last month at a webinar, said the term "breakthrough" may give people a false impression about the function of a vaccine.
"They’re not forcefields," she said. "They don’t repel the virus from your body."
Here’s what health experts said you need to know about the term "breakthrough case" and how COVID-19 vaccines work.
Cells have to be infected for the vaccine to respond
The scientific definition of infection means that a person must encounter a disease for a vaccine to respond, Nuzzo said.
The goal of a vaccine isn’t to eliminate all infections
Ultimately, a successful vaccine shouldn’t be viewed as one that eliminates infection, but one that
More COVID-19 cases means more breakthrough infections
"We often hold up the measles vaccine as the standard of the best vaccine," Nuzzo said. "But if we had a lot of measles circulating, and if we did a lot of testing, we would see a lot more breakthrough infections that we just don’t notice because the symptoms are so mild."
Other terms for "breakthrough"
’If I’m talking to the lay person, I try to use the word ’have gotten two doses of vaccine and an infection,’ or ’two doses of vaccine and COVID,’ depending on the situation," Sahly said.
Which includes Mrs. Bobby and your snarker.