Public health issues warning after vaccinated people test positive for Covid-19

People are not fully vaccinated until days after their second jab, meaning they still need to take precautions, officials at Public Health Mid-West have warned

A number of days have to pass after a second dose before someone is fully protected, leading to a warning of caution from health officials. File picture

Health officials in the Mid-West have warned those who are vaccinated to keep their guard up after a number of people, who have had all their required doses, tested positive for Covid-19.

The Department of Public Health Mid-West is urging members of the public to continue following public health guidelines after they have received their second dose of Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca, or their single Janssen shot.

“It is important to understand that, depending on the vaccine, there is a waiting period to allow your immune system to develop adequate protection. This is no different from any other vaccine,” a spokesperson for the department said.

For example, you are not considered fully vaccinated and best protected until seven days after the second Pfizer-BioNTech dose, 15 days after the second AstraZeneca dose, 14 days after the second Modena dose, and 14 days after the single Janssen dose.” 

The department also said if someone is not fully vaccinated, they are still at risk of getting infected with Covid-19. They warned vaccines are not 100% effective and fully vaccinated people can still be infected.

“However, people who are fully vaccinated may comfortably meet with other fully vaccinated people, and are significantly less at risk of developing severe illness or being hospitalised with Covid-19,” the spokesperson said.

Due to the cyberattack on HSE IT systems in May, Public Health Mid-West does not yet have full access to the systems, meaning it is unable to give an exact statistical overview of Covid-19 cases and their vaccine status in the region.

“However, as part of the contact tracing process in recent weeks, we have identified anecdotally a number of new Covid-19 cases who were fully vaccinated. In a small number of these cases, patients had presented with symptoms of Covid-19,” a spokesperson for the department said.