>> WE’RE SEEING THAT PEOPLE ARE SIGNIFICANTLY SICKER, AND MUCH SOONER THAN THEY WERE WITH THE ORIGINAL VARIANT. REPORT: ER AND THE VAST MAJORITY OF PATIENTS BECOMING INFECTED AND HOSPITALIZED WITH COVID ARE UNVACCIN.EDAT BUT OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF MONTHS, THE NUMBER OF BREAKTHROUGH INFECTIONS, PEOEPL WHO ARE VACCINATED BUT STILL BECOME INFECTED, HAS INCREAS.ED HERE IN RYMALAND, IN JUNE, JUST 5% OF NEW CASES WERE VACCITEDNA PEOPLE, COMPARED TO 27% IN AUGUST. WITH NEARLY THE SAME INCREASE IN PATIENTS WHO ARE HOSPITALIZED. IT’S A COMBINATION OF THE TIME SINCE VACCINATION, AND A VARIANT THAT REQUIRES HIGHER LEVELS OF ANTIBODIES TO PROTTEC US. THAT’S PROBABLY CREATING THIS SITUATION WHERE WE’RE SEEING MORE BREAKTHROUGH INFECTIONS. REPORTER: DR. WILLIAM MOSS SAYS THOSE WHO ARE OLDER, OR ARE IMMUNE COMPROMISED, ARE MORE LIKELY TO HA AVE BREAKTHROHUG INFECTION. HE SAYS THOSE INFECTED DO GET A BOOST IN ANTIBODIES, BUT THE FDA WILL HAVE TO DECIDE IF THOSE FOLKS STILL NEED A BOOSTER ST.HO >> I WOULD BE SURPRISED IF THEY SAY PEOPLE W HHOAVE BEEN INFECTED AFTER BEING VACCINATED DO NOT NEED BOOSTER DOSES, BUT I UNDERSTAND THE ARGUMENT THOSE PEOPLE’S IMMUNE SYSTEMS HAVE BEEN BOOSTED BY AN ADDITIONAL EXPOSURE TO THE VIRUS. REPORT: ER MOSS SAYS THOSE WHO GET BREAKTHROUGH INFECTIONS CAN STILL SPREAD THE VIRUS BUT ARE LESS CONTAGIOUS THAN THE UN VACCINATED. >> WHAT HAPPENS WITH THE VACCINATED INDIVIDUAL IS THOHUG , BECAUSE THEIR IMMUNE SYSTEM HAS BEEN TRAINED, THEY CLEAR TH VATIRUS MORE QUICKLY. SO THEY’RE GOING TO BE INFECTIOUS FOR A SHORTER PERIOD OF TIME. REPORTER: AND THOSE WHO ARE VACCINATED WILL HAVE MILDER SYMPTOMS AND ARE LESS LIKELY TO BE HOSPITALIZED OR D.IE DR. KINJAL SHETH, DIRECTOR OF CRITICAL CARE AT NORTHWEST HOSPITAL SAYS MANY OF THEIR PATIENTS WHO ARE UNVACCINATED ASK FOR THE VACCINE, BUT IT'’ TOO LATE. >> ONE PERSON, BEFORE WE PUTER H ON A LIFE SUPPORT MACHINE, SHE TOLD ME MAKE SURE MY HUSBAND GETS VACCINATED. REPORTER: HEALTH OFFICIALS SAY THE BEST THING YOU CAN DO, VACCINATED OR NOT, ITOS CONTINUE TO BE CAREFUL. BY WEARING MKS
Maryland doctors explain increases in breakthrough COVID-19 cases
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Updated: 6:43 AM EDT Sep 8, 2021
The number of new COVID-19 cases continues to increase. More cases were recorded Tuesday than on this date in 2020. The vast majority are unvaccinated people, but there's also been an increase in breakthrough cases among vaccinated people.|| COVID-19 updates | Maryland's latest numbers | Get tested | Vaccine Info ||The number of breakthrough infections among Marylanders went up more than 20% from June to August. But health officials said those who are vaccinated are still less likely to get seriously ill, be hospitalized or die."We're seeing that people are significantly sicker and much sooner than they were with the original variant," Dr. Kinjal Sheth, chief of critical care at Northwest Hospital, said.In Maryland, just 5% of new cases were vaccinated people in June compared to 27% in August, with nearly the same increase in patients who are hospitalized."It's a combination of the time since vaccination and a variant that requires higher levels of antibodies to protect us. That's probably creating this situation where we're seeing more breakthrough infections," Dr. William Moss, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said.Moss said those who are older, or are immunocompromised, are more likely to have a breakthrough infection. He said those infected do get a boost in antibodies, but the Food and Drug Administration will have to decide if those people still need a booster shot."I would be surprised if they say people who have been infected after being vaccinated do not need booster doses, but I understand the argument, those people's immune systems have been boosted by an additional exposure to the virus," Moss said.Moss said those who get breakthrough infections can still spread the virus but are less contagious than the unvaccinated. "What happens with the vaccinated individual is, though, because their immune system has been trained, they clear that virus more quickly, so they're going to be infectious for a shorter period of time," he said.And those who are vaccinated will have milder symptoms and are less likely to be hospitalized or die, doctors say.Sheth said many of their patients who are unvaccinated ask for the vaccine but its too late. "One person, before we put her on a life support machine, she told me, 'Make sure my husband gets vaccinated,'" Sheth said.
BALTIMORE — The number of new COVID-19 cases continues to increase.
More cases were recorded Tuesday than on this date in 2020. The vast majority are unvaccinated people, but there's also been an increase in breakthrough cases among vaccinated people.
|| COVID-19 updates | Maryland's latest numbers | Get tested | Vaccine Info ||
The number of breakthrough infections among Marylanders went up more than 20% from June to August. But health officials said those who are vaccinated are still less likely to get seriously ill, be hospitalized or die.
"We're seeing that people are significantly sicker and much sooner than they were with the original variant," Dr. Kinjal Sheth, chief of critical care at Northwest Hospital, said.
In Maryland, just 5% of new cases were vaccinated people in June compared to 27% in August, with nearly the same increase in patients who are hospitalized.
"It's a combination of the time since vaccination and a variant that requires higher levels of antibodies to protect us. That's probably creating this situation where we're seeing more breakthrough infections," Dr. William Moss, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said.
Moss said those who are older, or are immunocompromised, are more likely to have a breakthrough infection. He said those infected do get a boost in antibodies, but the Food and Drug Administration will have to decide if those people still need a booster shot.
"I would be surprised if they say people who have been infected after being vaccinated do not need booster doses, but I understand the argument, those people's immune systems have been boosted by an additional exposure to the virus," Moss said.
Moss said those who get breakthrough infections can still spread the virus but are less contagious than the unvaccinated.
"What happens with the vaccinated individual is, though, because their immune system has been trained, they clear that virus more quickly, so they're going to be infectious for a shorter period of time," he said.
And those who are vaccinated will have milder symptoms and are less likely to be hospitalized or die, doctors say.
Sheth said many of their patients who are unvaccinated ask for the vaccine but its too late.
"One person, before we put her on a life support machine, she told me, 'Make sure my husband gets vaccinated,'" Sheth said.
