Infection despite vaccination: RKI publishes current figures - Over 18,000 vaccination breakthroughs in Germany

There are more and more reports of people vaccinated against corona who are infected with the virus.

The number in Germany is now 18,333.

Researchers apparently saw it coming.

Berlin - 18,333: This is the number of vaccination breakthroughs that the RKI has recorded since February 1, 2021.

A vaccination breakthrough is a coronavirus infection after a complete vaccination.

The period until full protection is achieved is also taken into account.

At Biontech, for example, it is two weeks after the second injection.

But what does the number of breakthroughs mean?

Can conclusions be drawn about the effectiveness of the vaccine?

The RKI explains the situation in the new weekly report.

Over 18,000 vaccination breakthroughs in Germany: Biontech is right at the front - beware of false conclusions

The RKI has been documenting the situation around vaccination breakthroughs since February 2021.

It was not sensible to record the number beforehand, as hardly anyone in Germany was considered to have been vaccinated twice.

Divided among the manufacturers, there have since been 12,210 vaccine breakthroughs with the Biontech vaccine, 759 with Moderna, 1333 with Astrazeneca and 2890 with Johnson & Johnson.

The remaining vaccination breakthroughs cannot be assigned.

It is important to note, however: Biontech already delivered by far the largest number of cans to Germany (Biontech: 81,209,862 cans; Moderna: 12,836,080 cans. The figures must be viewed in proportion.

Also for classification: A total of 49,850,277 people are currently considered fully vaccinated in Germany.

And yet the increasing reports of vaccination breakthroughs are unsettling many in the population.

Infection despite vaccination: RKI continues to rate the vaccine's effectiveness as high

"By far the largest part of the Covid-19 cases transmitted since the 5th calendar week [since 02/01/21] were not vaccinated," emphasized the RKI in its latest weekly report.

The effectiveness of the vaccines can now be determined by comparing them.

The number of those fully vaccinated is compared to the number of breakthroughs.

For the period since the beginning of February, the RKI has received a vaccination effectiveness of 87 percent for the group of 18 to 59 and those over 60 years of age.

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The corona test is also occasionally positive in people who have been vaccinated.

As the vaccination rate increases, so does the number of vaccination breakthroughs.

© Bernd Thissen / dpa

"We knew from the start that the vaccination was not 100 percent effective: Even in the approval studies, completely vaccinated people were infected," explains Carsten Watzl, immunologist at the Leibniz Institute, to the dpa.

Because of this, of course, the more people who were immunized, the more breakthrough infections would occur.

Only recently had researchers warned not to view vaccine breakthroughs as a failure of effectiveness.

Of course, the number 87 is not set in stone.

As the RKI emphasizes, slight distortion effects are possible.

Among other things, "different test behavior in vaccinated and unvaccinated people" can lead to deviations.

Infection despite vaccination: The report shows - the vaccination seems to be working

The RKI report clearly shows a clear tendency, which has already been emphasized frequently: The vaccinations seem to reduce the likelihood of severe courses.

"If you look at the proportion of vaccine breakthroughs in all Covid-19 cases, it becomes clear that only a small proportion of hospitalized, intensive care units or deceased Covid-19 cases can be assessed as vaccine breakthroughs," the report says literally.

The proportion of hospital stays, admissions to the intensive care unit and deaths from vaccination breakthroughs since the beginning of February is as follows:

Age: over 18-59	Age: over 60 years
Proportion of likely vaccine breakthroughs in hospitalized COVID-19 cases	0.7%	1.6%
Proportion of likely vaccine breakthroughs in COVID-19 cases in intensive care units	0.5%	1.3%
Proportion of likely vaccine breakthroughs in deceased COVID-19 cases	0.1%	1.8%

"Among the 367 Covid-19 cases with breakthroughs in vaccination who died, 299 were 80 years of age and older." This is 81 percent of the cases, according to the RKI.

"This reflects the generally higher risk of death, regardless of the effectiveness of the vaccines, for this age group."

More vaccine breakthroughs can be expected in the future as well.

On the one hand, the vaccination rate will continue to rise.

On the other hand, the incidences are currently climbing again.

This increases the likelihood that “fully vaccinated people will come into contact with the virus”, according to the RKI.

A study also found out when the risk of infection with corona is apparently highest.

(chd)

List of rubric lists: © Bernd Thissen / dpa