I’ve done everything I can to prevent infection. Why did I still get COVID?

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – You’ve played by all the rules: getting vaccinated and boosted, masking, and social distancing.

However, your COVID test comes back positive. How could this have happened?

News 8 turned to Dr. Christopher Doehring, vice president of medical affairs at Franciscan Health, for the answer. 

“Certainly with this omicron variant being so highly contagious, it can even overcome doing all the right things,” he said. “The good news is when people do get infected they still maintain incredible high protection against severe illness, hospitalization and death … upwards of 90% of protection against those things. And so, I know it’s discouraging. It’s like ‘what more could I have done?’ But, the good news is the vast majority of those folks are going to have a mild illness and recover without incident.”

In a previous interview, Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical advisor to the Biden administration and director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Disease, said that “omicron will find just about everyone.”

It’s no longer a question of “if.” It’s a question of “when.” 

Doehring says Fauci’s words were a sweeping statement. Those who’ve been vaccinated, boosted — and perhaps have natural immunity — have triple protection. Just because it’s breaking through despite all of this and the efforts to protect against infection, doesn’t mean they aren’t worth it.