At least 71 people who have been fully vaccinated in Massachusetts have died after testing positive for a breakthrough COVID-19 case, the Herald has learned.
New data from the state Department of Public Health reveals COVID vaccine breakthrough infections pose a real danger:
- As of June 19, a total of 3,907 breakthrough cases had been reported to DPH. On that date, nearly 4.1 million Bay State residents were fully vaccinated.
- Out of the 3,907 breakthrough infections, a total of 71 people died and 268 people were hospitalized.
- Breaking that down further: 216 people were hospitalized; 52 were hospitalized and later died; and 19 people died without going to the hospital.
The Herald received this data through a public records request.
The first people in Massachusetts were fully vaccinated as of early January. There have been 5,057 COVID deaths since then, of which 4,986 people were unvaccinated and 71 people were fully vaccinated.
Also, there have been 297,753 total COVID cases since then, of which 293,846 people were unvaccinated and 3,907 people were fully vaccinated.
“These numbers show the reason to get vaccinated,” said Todd Ellerin, director of infectious diseases at South Shore Health. “It’s unbelievable actually. It’s mind-blowing.
“The bottom line is the people who remain unvaccinated really have a significantly increased risk of becoming delta factories,” he added. “There’s a significantly higher risk for themselves and a risk of transmission to others.”
There have been reports of immunocompromised people possibly needing a third dose of the vaccine, noted Davidson Hamer, a Boston University specialist in infectious diseases.
“It’d be important for the state to analyze whether these people who were hospitalized and died were immunocompromised, if they had underlying conditions or some sort of other risk factors,” he said.
Hamer said he was “surprised” to see this amount of severe cases, hospitalizations and deaths.
Breakthrough cases are expected with the more contagious delta variant circulating, Ellerin said. Provincetown over the weekend reported some breakthrough cases.
But Ellerin said in the vaccinated cases, most of the infections will be asymptomatic or “like the common cold or a mild flu.”
“The hospitalizations and deaths will be predominantly in unvaccinated people,” he added.
As of last week, more than 157 million people in the U.S. had been fully vaccinated.
During the same time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention received reports from 48 states and territories of 5,186 patients with breakthrough infections who had been hospitalized or died.
There were 988 total deaths reported to the CDC, 255 of which were reported as asymptomatic or not related to COVID.
Also, 1,355 of 4,909 hospitalizations were reported as asymptomatic or not related to COVID.
