[imagesource: Mufid Majnun / Unsplash]

South Africa’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout is finally gathering steam.

As of yesterday, in excess of eight million people have received at least one dose, and more than 3,3 million are fully vaccinated.

Sadly, that only accounts for 8,3% of the total adult population, meaning we still have a very long way to go before we achieve any sort of vaccine herd immunity.

We know the 18 to 34 age group is itching to get stuck in, so perhaps that September 1 date will be brought forward.

One of the arguments commonly used by those who don’t want to get the vaccine (aside from the ridiculous ones), or remain hesitant, is that fully vaccinated people are still getting infected.

Bhekisisa takes a closer look at ‘breakthrough infections’ coming out of the US:

…the CDC compiled data from 49 out of America’s 50 states: of the 163-million Americans who had been fully vaccinated by July, 6 587 people had been hospitalised or died as a result of breakthrough infections…

As the US data on breakthrough infections show, only a small proportion of people who are fully vaccinated get infected with SARS-CoV-2, and the infections tend to be mild.

The infections are generally mild, because what COVID vaccines are best at doing is to protect us from falling severely ill — or dying — if we develop COVID-19.

UK data shows that the two-jab Pfizer vaccine, which is what South Africans are getting at present, reduces your chances of hospitalisation as a result of infection with the Delta variant by 96%.

However, there are still examples of mild infections in those who have been vaccinated:

…the protection offered by the same vaccine against developing milder forms of COVID caused by the Delta variant is lower than the protection it offers against falling severely ill.

England data shows one jab offers 36% protection against such infection and two shots reduce your chances of infection by 88%.

Numbers coming out of Israel have been widely shared by those keen to undermine the efficacy of vaccines, but the country only reported a 10% breakthrough infection rate among fully immunised healthcare workers.

This is the real kicker, and one that cannot be stressed enough:

Getting vaccinated against COVID therefore doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re done with the disease, because there’s still a chance that you can get infected.

But what it does mean is that your chances of ending up in an intensive care unit or dying of COVID are drastically lower than someone who hasn’t been vaccinated.

Sure, you’re young, fit, and healthy, but you’ll find endless stories of people who regret being slow on the uptake

Here, here, here, here, here, here, here – the list goes on and on.

Closer to home, Dr. Marc Mendelson, who runs a high care ward at Groote Schuur Hospital, says “I have not seen a single person there who has been vaccinated.”

Here’s another example of vaccines at work, via Scientific American:

A “breakthrough” simply means that a vaccinated person has tested positive for the disease-causing agent, not that they will become ill or transmit the infection to someone else. Most vaccinated people who are infected do not have symptoms, and those that do tend to have mild illness. Even with the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, the vaccines show good protection against symptomatic disease and death.

Nationally, as of August 2, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that more than 164 million people have been fully vaccinated, just under half of the total population. Yet 97 percent of those who are being hospitalized for COVID-19 are unvaccinated.

At present, it appears that the most common side effect of getting the vaccine, along with a possible sore arm and fatigue, is the continued inhalation of oxygen, as a result of still being alive.

Still, it remains a personal decision, and vilifying those who choose not to get vaccinated isn’t going to increase the likelihood of a shift in mindset.

Hopefully, as time wears on, vaccine hesitancy will decrease, because it really is the only way out of this seemingly never-ending pandemic.

[sources:bhekisisa&scientificamerican]