(WETM) – With more people getting the COVID-19 vaccine every day, there have been concerns about breakthrough infections for those that have been fully vaccinated.

According to the CDC, breakthrough infections are expected and some people will get sick, be hospitalized, and even die from COVID-19 after being vaccinated.

However, there is evidence that vaccination may make the illness less severe for those who are vaccinated and still get sick. The risk of infection, hospitalization and death are all much lower in vaccinated people compared to unvaccinated.

As of September 13, 2021, there have been over 178 million people who have gotten fully vaccinated in the United States against COVID-19. During that time the CDC received information from 49 states and U.S. territories that 15,790 patients with COVID-19 breakthrough infections.

87% of the deaths from that group were people aged 65 and older, the same goes for those in the hospital with non-fatal COVID-19 conditions with 70%.

To date, no unexpected patterns have been identified in the case demographics or vaccine characteristics among people with reported vaccine breakthrough infections.

Information on patients with vaccine breakthrough infection who were hospitalized or died will continue to be updated. Studies are being conducted in multiple U.S. sites that will include information on all vaccine breakthrough infections regardless of clinical status to supplement the national surveillance.