Double vaccinated and still contracted Covid-19? In rare cases this is possible. As figures from the health department show, between the start of the vaccination campaign at the end of December and this Tuesday, a total of 342 Munich residents have been infected with Sars-CoV-2, even though they had complete vaccination protection. The virus caught 1133 people after an initial vaccination. A breakdown by vaccine is not yet available, according to a spokeswoman for the unit. To classify: By the same time, 694 545 Munich residents had been vaccinated twice. That is, only 0.05 percent of them became infected even though they were twice immunized.
So does a vaccination against the coronavirus make sense? Yes, says Clemens Wendtner, chief physician at the Schwabing Munich Clinic. The infectiologist and oncologist emphasizes that breakthrough infections are normal in the course of the pandemic. “That is not an argument against vaccination,” said Wendtner. Especially since in a metropolis like Munich 342 infected people are very few despite vaccinations. In addition, the question arises how many of them get seriously ill. Since the vaccination campaign began, he has only seen a few patients in the clinic who developed severe symptoms despite being vaccinated, says Wendtner. Nobody would have had to go to the intensive care unit.
At other hospitals there was no case with vaccination, for example at the Barmherzige Brüder hospital, as a spokeswoman confirmed. The Klinikum rechts der Isar reports on “a few individual cases with only one vaccination”. And at the LMU Klinikum we know of six patients who had to go to the intensive care unit despite being vaccinated. In three, the immune system was weakened by a transplant, for example, the first vaccination was less than two weeks ago.
It is obvious that some people get infected despite being vaccinated, according to the infectiologist Wendtner. After all, the vaccine from Biontech and Pfizer, for example, protects about 95 percent against mild corona symptoms, while the Delta variant is about 88 percent. And before severe courses, it is “almost 100 percent”. The few percentage points that are still missing then usually affect very specific population groups. Especially those whose immune systems are not working well. In his clinic, for example, all those affected were over 80 years old and their immune systems were weakened due to certain diseases. For example, rheumatism patients who have to take cortisone every day, tumor patients after chemotherapy, dialysis patients or people after an organ transplant.
“These are the groups that we have to take special care of,” says Wendtner. As an oncologist, he looks after many of these high-risk patients and tests their blood for antibodies against the coronavirus despite having been vaccinated twice. If it turns out that they have few antibodies or that they are not working, he will give these patients a third vaccination.
However, the doctor would not generally recommend a third vaccination for everyone over the age of 80. That only stirs up unnecessary fears, healthy people don’t have to worry. If you had your second vaccination more than six months ago, you can have your antibodies checked. In the vast majority of cases, immunity should be given. And for the vast majority, vaccination is still the best protection against the virus. “The average population doesn’t have to worry.”