The State of Alaska reports that since vaccines became available in Alaska in 2021, so-called “breakthrough” cases have been on the rise.
“Through the end of August 2021, a total of 6,223 vaccine breakthrough COVID-19 cases were documented among Alaska residents,” the State’s white paper on the subject said. “An additional 1,867 cases occurred among Alaska residents who were partially vaccinated. The incidence of COVID-19 among vaccinated persons has remained consistently lower than among persons who were not unvaccinated.”
But as time has gone on, the vaccines appear to be wearing off or not working as planned. It’s important to note that not many people were vaccinated in March, and that the number of Alaskans vaccinated has grown through the months. Fifty-nine percent of eligible Alaskans are fully vaccinated. That’s 356,414 Alaskans over the age of 12. Some 64 percent have had one dose of the vaccine so far.
But in August, the last month reported, over one third of cases of known Covid in Alaska were breakthrough cases. This occurred when 53.4 percent of eligible Alaskans were vaccinated.
Last week, Anchorage Municipal Attorney Patrick Bergt was diagnosed with Covid, even though he had two vaccines and a booster shot. The city’s attorney also known to consistently wear a face mask in public settings, sometimes wearing two face masks.
Other interesting items to note from the State of Alaska update is that 19 percent of those hospitalized in July and August for Covid had been fully vaccinated for Covid. This was during a timeframe when over 50 percent of eligible Alaskans were vaccinated.
As of October 3, among cases with specimen collection dates during or prior to August, 37 Covid-19 deaths were documented among fully vaccinated persons.
Of these, 31 (84 percent) occurred in July or August. During that same period, 86 Covid-19 deaths occurred in unvaccinated persons and 3 Covid-19 deaths occurred in partially vaccinated persons.
Accounting for age, calendar day, and region, unvaccinated persons died from Covid-19 at 9.8 times the rate of fully vaccinated persons. The state noted that the numbers may change as death certificates are completed and processed.
Reinfections are not insignificant. A total of 884 SARS-CoV-2 reinfections were documented among Alaska residents since the beginning of the pandemic. Six persons were reinfected twice (i.e., each were counted as a case 3 times).
Read the complete report:
