Virological characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine breakthrough infections in health care workers
Open accessAbstract
Background: SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are highly effective at preventing COVID-19-related morbidity and mortality. As no vaccine is 100% effective, breakthrough infections are expected to occur. Methods: We analyzed the virological characteristics of 161 vaccine breakthrough infections in a population of 24,706 vaccinated healthcare workers (HCWs), using RT-PCR and virus culture. Results: The delta variant (B.1.617.2) was identified in the majority of cases. Despite similar Ct-values, we demonstrate lower probability of infectious virus detection in respiratory samples of vaccinated HCWs with breakthrough infections compared to unvaccinated HCWs with primary SARS-CoV-2 infections. Nevertheless, infectious virus was found in 68.6% of breakthrough infections and Ct-values decreased throughout the first 3 days of illness. Conclusions: We conclude that rare vaccine breakthrough infections occur, but infectious virus shedding is reduced in these cases.
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Cellular immunity can reduce or prevent symptoms of disease and potentially reduce spread to others.
“By responding and restricting viral infection within the first hours to days after exposure, cellular immunity can thereby reduce or even prevent symptoms of disease (i.e., preventing hospitalization and death) and potentially reduce the ability to spread virus to others (26, 27).”
From mRNA vaccines induce durable immune memory to SARS-CoV-2 and variants of concern (2021) · cites this paper as [26]
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- Authors
- Shamier, M. C., Tostmann, A., Bogers, S., de Wilde, J., IJpelaar, J., van der Kleij, W. A., de Jager, H., Haagmans, B. L., Molenkamp, R., Oude Munnink, B. B., van Rossum, C., Rahamat-Langendoen, J., van der Geest, N., Bleeker-Rovers, C. P., Wertheim, H., Koopmans, M. P. G., & GeurtsvanKessel, C. H.
- Affiliations
- Erasmus MC (NL)
- Radboud University Medical Center (NL)
- Corresponding author
- GeurtsvanKessel, Corine H.
- ORCID
- Venue
- medRxiv
- Publisher
- openRxiv
- Published
- 2021-08-21
- OpenAlex
- W3193510505
- Cited by
- 56
- References
- 25
- Citations by year
- 2024: 2 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 31 · 2021: 17
- Type
- posted content
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nd
- Locations
- medRxiv (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nd)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › COVID-19 Clinical Research Studies
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Modeling and Simulation › COVID-19 epidemiological studies
- Keywords
- SARS-CoV-2, healthcare workers, Delta variant, viral shedding, cycle threshold, respiratory samples, vaccine effectiveness
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