Why are people still getting COVID after being vaccinated? Are breakthrough infections normal or should we be worried? Dr. Amesh Adalja, a Senior Scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, and Dr. Rebecca Wurtz, the Director of Public Health at the University of Minnesota, answer our most pressing questions. Source by: Stringr
Two more Lancaster County residents have died from COVID-19.
The Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department on Friday reported the deaths of an unvaccinated woman in her 50s and a vaccinated man in his 70s. Both were hospitalized.
Lancaster County has now reported 280 coronavirus deaths.
A total of 110 coronavirus patients are hospitalized in Lincoln, nearly half residents of other counties.
The county reported 105 new cases Friday, as the Lancaster County Jail reported a dozen cases among inmates between Thursday and Friday.Â
Inmates from six different housing units are involved in the outbreak, according to a news release from the county, and administrators believe the virus is contained within those units.Â
It's unclear how many, if any, of the 12 COVID-positive inmates were vaccinated against the virus. In the release, administrators said they aren't sure how the virus got into the general population at the jail, but vaccinations aren't required among employees.
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All inmates and staff are required to wear masks inside the facility.
Lancaster County Corrections Director Brad Johnson said last month that an increasing number of jail inmates and spiking COVID-19 cases make it hard to effectively quarantine new inmates, one of the ways up to this point that jail officials have avoided major outbreaks.
The jail plans to conduct further testing to ensure the outbreak is contained to the affected housing units. The 12 inmates who have tested positive are isolating in the jail’s infirmary and have not required hospitalization.
The facility entered a modified state of lockdown in the wake of the outbreak in an effort to minimize potential exposure to the virus. Inmates in the impacted housing areas are let out in small groups to use the phone and shower.
Visitation and volunteer services have been suspended until further notice, though limited video visitation will be permitted.Â
What do we know about booster shots for COVID-19?
Why might we need boosters?
Answer: It's common for protection from vaccines to decrease over time. A tetanus booster, for example, is recommended every 10 years.
Researchers and health officials have been monitoring the real-world performance of the COVID-19 vaccines to see how long protection lasts among vaccinated people. The vaccines authorized in the U.S. continue to offer very strong protection against severe disease and death.
But laboratory blood tests have suggested that antibodies — one of the immune system's layers of protection — can wane over time. That doesn't mean protection disappears, but it could mean protection is not as strong or that it could take longer for the body to fight back against an infection.
The delta variant has complicated the question of when to give boosters because it is so much more contagious and much of the data gathered about vaccine performance is from before the delta variant was widely circulating. Delta is taking off at the same time that vaccine immunity might also be waning for the first people vaccinated.
Israel is offering a booster to people over 50 who were vaccinated more than five months ago. France and Germany plan to offer boosters to some people in the fall. The European Medicines Agency said it too is reviewing data to see if booster shots are needed.
When would they be given?
Answer: It depends on when you got your initial shots. One possibility is that health officials will recommend people get a booster roughly eight months after getting their second shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.
Officials are continuing to collect information about the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which was authorized for use in the U.S. in late February, to determine when to recommend boosters.
Who would get them?
Answer: The first people vaccinated in the United States would likely be first in line for boosters too. That means health care workers, nursing home residents and other older Americans, who were the first to be vaccinated once the shots were authorized last December.
Booster? Third shot? What's the difference?
Answer: Transplant recipients and other people with weakened immune systems may not have gotten enough protection from vaccines to begin with. They can now receive a third dose at least 28 days after their second shot as part of their initial series of shots needed for them to be fully vaccinated. For those with normal immune systems, boosters are given much later after full vaccination — not to establish protection, but to rev it up again.
What questions remain?
Answer: Still unknown is whether people should get the same type of shot they got when first vaccinated. And the nation's top health advisers will be looking for evidence about the safety of boosters and how well they protect against infection and severe disease.
Global access to vaccines is also important to stem the pandemic and prevent the emergence of new variants. Booster shots could crimp already tight global vaccine supplies.
What about the unvaccinated?
Answer: Dr. Melanie Swift, who has been leading the vaccination program at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, says getting more shots into people who haven't yet been vaccinated at all is "our best tool, not only to prevent hospitalization and mortality from the delta variant, but to stop transmission." Every infection, she says, "gives the virus more chances to mutate into who knows what the next variant could be."
"People who took the vaccine the first time are likely to line up and get their booster," Swift says. "But it's not going to achieve our goals overall if all their unvaccinated neighbors are not vaccinated."
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Reach the writer at 402-473-7223 or awegley@journalstar.com.
On Twitter @andrewwegley
Andrew Wegley
State government reporter
