Health Department: 109 Allegheny County Residents Have Tested Positive For COVID-19 After Getting Vaccinated
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Allegheny County Health Director Dr. Debra Bogen says the data on residents testing positive for COVID-19 after getting vaccinated is "very encouraging."
She says the county is aware of 109 breakthrough cases, meaning someone tests positive for COVID-19 14 or more days after getting fully vaccinated, out of the approximately 213,000 residents who were fully vaccinated by the end of March.
"That's about .05% of those vaccinated, which is truly remarkable," she said.
The CDC says the Pfizer vaccine was 95% effective in clinical trials, the Moderna vaccine was 94.1% effective and the Johnson & Johnson was 66.3% effective.
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Bogen says several hundred people are testing positive for COVID-19 each day. Among these cases are an increased number of variant strains. The positivity rate has reached 9.6%, which is up from last week.
She voiced concerns about vaccine hesitancy after the CDC called for a pause on the distribution of the Johnson & Johnson shot this week, following reports that a small percentage of women suffered serious health conditions. She says to her knowledge, it hasn't happened locally.
More than 800,000 people have been partially vaccinated in Allegheny County, which is about half of the county's adult population.
Both Bogen and Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald encouraged people to get vaccinated.
