
CDC should track more COVID-19 breakthrough infections to get ahead of the pandemic, experts warn
Fox News
The CDC says the best way to prevent infection and slow the spread of COVID-19 is to get vaccinated, but the total number of breakthrough cases are unknown because the agency only monitors the most severe on a monthly basis
Dr. Devang Sanghavi, medical director of the medical intensivist unit at Mayo Clinic, told the American Medical Association (AMA) that a breakthrough COVID-19 infection is defined as the detection of COVID-19 viral RNA or antigen in a respiratory specimen collected 14 days after receiving the second dose of Moderna or Pfizer mRNA vaccines or two weeks after the first dose of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine.
The CDC transitioned to focus on the breakthrough cases of the highest clinical and public health significance "because many breakthrough infections among fully vaccinated people will not develop into serious illness compared to those who are unvaccinated and get COVID-19," the agency noted.
"One of the strengths of this system is collecting data on severe cases of vaccine breakthrough COVID-19 since it is likely that most of these types of vaccine breakthrough cases seek medical care and are diagnosed and reported as a COVID-19 case," the agency said.