Approximately 21,000 of the 470,000 individuals who tested positive for coronavirus in the United States in the week ending April 18 had been administered one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to The Washington Post.
The results of the analysis illustrate what experts have been stressing for some time: that it is very important to abide by COVID-19 guidelines after receiving the vaccine because it takes some time for it to fully take effect.
A Center for Disease Control and Prevention study released in March showed that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are both about 80% effective at preventing coronavirus infection after one dose, according to CNBC.
That study stressed that the vaccines from both companies achieved their full effectiveness of 90% to 95% only about two weeks after a person received the second dose.
The report in The Washington Post pointed out that there are some advantages to those who become infected with the coronavirus between doses compared to those who have not received the first dose of the vaccine.
C. Buddy Creech, who is Vanderbilt University’s vaccine research program director, told the publication that, “even if you develop disease, you already have a head start from an immune system standpoint on controlling the virus,” adding that “the real challenge is we have to show the blueprint to the immune system with enough lead time.”
Another expert, infectious diseases doctor Krutika Kuppalli, who is based in South Carolina, told the Post that although no medication is 100 percent effective, the patients she has who have become infected between doses for the most part suffered only mild symptoms of the coronavirus.
“We want this to become akin to it feeling like a nuisance cold if you get vaccinated,” Kuppalli said. “We don’t want people having significant morbidity and mortality from COVID.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser and director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that anyone who becomes infected with COVID-19 after being administered the first dose of the vaccine is able to receive the second dose once they have experienced a full recovery from the coronavirus, The Hill reported.