“People that say, ‘Oh, the vaccine’s no good, people are still getting infected.' Well, that’s actually not the real benefit of the vaccine. It’s preventing hospitalizations and serious illness..."
—Dr. John Bradley, medical director of Infectious Diseases at Rady Children’s Hospital in San
Diego and Distinguished Professor at UC San Diego School of Medicine
After being double vaccinated and getting jabbed with a booster and flu shot about a year ago, I recently experienced a “breakthrough" infection. Like many thousands of others who chose to get vaccinated I thought there was light at the end of the tunnel, only to come to realize that the light I saw was a train of highly infectious Covid-19 variants coming our way. While taking all the shots that were recommended by the CDC still resulted in my becoming infected with the virus, I have a problem with the word ‘breakthrough.’ It implies a failure of the vaccine to provide a viral shield or even a cure. But as Dr, Bradley and other medical experts have said, it did its job. It kept me and many others in my age group (65 and up) from being hospitalized and possibly dying on a ventilator. According to the CDC the risk of being hospitalized is 10 times lower if you're vaccinated. This is not a political statement. According to medical experts it's a medical fact. As a former health care provider, I like those odds.
How serious are the symptoms from breakthrough infections? Well, we all know by now that one may have no symptoms and may not even be aware they have the virus. For those who do feel sick, the symptoms are usually mild and last a few days to one or two weeks. In my case I had excessive fatigue on a Sunday night after riding my bike for an hour and then meeting a friend for a walk around a local park. The next day, on January 17 (Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday), following two consecutive negative Covid tests after returning from Maui with our family and again on January 5 of the New Year for cold-like symptoms, I tested positive for Covid. I quickly alerted my family and contacted my friend to let him know and isolated myself from family for over 10 days. Fortunately, my friend got tested five days later and tested negative which was a relief for both of us. He too was fully vaccinated and happened to be wearing a mask during our walk. Fortunately, none of my family got infected with the virus. The most difficult thing about getting the virus was not being able to babysit our granddaughter who will be a year old later this month or see our granddaughter Lyla, now three years old. Getting together with them, Cecile, Michelle and Jason again was cause to celebrate.
Several days later I had a video conference call with my doctor who had already emailed me the recommended protocol. I told her I had no shortness of breath, chest pain, rapid heartbeat or fever. I did report I experienced three days of headaches which dissipated the afternoon after talking to my her. I wore a KN95 mask every time Cecile announced she was coming to the bedroom or my home office to bring me my meals. She took great care of me. I did have a runny nose, an occasional tight cough, clogged ears, and raspy throat. It felt more like a bad cold. Oddly enough my appetite and energy were good. I postponed a bike trip in Santa Cruz with friends by a week. A week after that which was well after the isolation period of 10 days, I rode 28 miles with some friends in SF. I never felt better.
What was amazing about my experience is that I felt like there was a tug of war between my immune system and the virus and my immune system won. The vaccine did what it was intended to do: Once, the immune system detected the disease it dispatched cells and molecules to memorize its features so it could be fought off more swiftly in the future. Once delivered to the upper arm, the vaccine instructs the body’s own cells to produce a coronavirus protein called spike—a molecule that elicits powerful, infection-fighting antibody response in people battling COVID-19.
Postscript: Though I read and watch many news sources with diverse opinions, it is noteworthy to mention that CNN reported that after battling Covid-19 for almost a month, and spending 28 days on a ventilator and heart monitor at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, graphic artist Richard Soliz returned to the hospital, not for treatment but to apologize to doctors and staff for their great care. He realized that choosing not to be vaccinated nearly cost him his life. According to Soliz’s pulmonologist, and director of ICU at Harborview, about 99 out of 100 patients admitted to the hospital had not been vaccinated when Soliz was admitted.
