People can still catch the coronavirus more than two weeks after the second dose, but being fully vaccinated limits severe illness. NBC 5’s Chris Coffey reports.
Vaccinations are occurring every day in Illinois with the goal of saving lives and stemming the pandemic, but there is a chance that fully vaccinated people can still receive a positive COVID-19 test.
The Illinois Department of Public Health told NBC 5 it is tracking cases of individuals who have been vaccinated and test positive for COVID-19. According to IDPH, of the more than 1.6 million people who are fully vaccinated, 217 reported a positive test more than two weeks after their last vaccine dose.
Ariel Silver of Northbrook, a sales manager for a medical device company, said she received her second dose of the Pfizer vaccine in mid-January and tested positive for COVID-19 in early March.
“Having been fully vaccinated for six weeks and then to get a positive COVID test, I was shocked,” Silver said.
Silver said her two young daughters tested positive in late February, and soon after she started feeling sick.
“It hit me hard," she said. "I’ve read that if someone vaccinated gets COVID, it’s usual very mild symptoms. But for two days my symptoms were not mild at all. I was in bed, very ill."
According to the Centers for Disease Control, the vaccine will help you from getting seriously ill even if you do get COVID.
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“We shouldn’t be surprised about some people still getting infected, especially if they have high risk exposures, like a household exposure, but what we shouldn’t expect are severe infections because we know the vaccines were highly protective against from any hospitalizations,” said Dr. Jonathan Pinsky, a medical director and infectious disease control and prevention specialist at Edward Hospital.
Silver said she and her daughters are back to feeling normal.
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She said she fully supports people getting vaccinated and wants to spread awareness that what happened to her can happen to other people.
“I could only imagine not having the vaccine and getting COVID and how much worse it would be,” Silver said. “I do feel like it protected me against hospitalization and God forbid, death.”
