CLEVELAND — According to the Ohio Department of Health, only 34 of the 1.8 million Ohioans who have been vaccinated since December have tested positive for COVID-19, resulting in five hospitalizations and zero deaths.
Health experts are reminding the public that even if you’re vaccinated, there’s still a chance you can get COVID-19. As we see cases climb in Ohio, some who have received full or partial vaccinations will still get sick.
“COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective when it comes to preventing hospitalization from severe COVID-19 and death. However, as we have heard when these vaccines received FDA authorization, their efficacy rates vary, as did their efficacy studies. There is a small chance with each vaccine, much like there is with a flu shot, that despite being vaccinated, you may still contract COVID-19. When this happens, because of the protection you have from the vaccine, the case tends to be milder,” said ODH spokesperson Alicia Shoults.
Dr. Hassan Khouli, chairman of Cleveland Clinic’s Department of Critical Care Medicine, says the available vaccines are not bulletproof but are effective.
“That should not really change what we advocate for, where vaccines are safe, vaccines are effective, and they can prevent the vast majority of, for example, hospitalizations and deaths among our populations, which are the key most important metrics when we use these vaccines,” he explained. “Things could have been possibly even a lot worse if we did not have these vaccines into the arms of as many people as we have in Ohio.”
As of Monday, about 3.2 million Ohioans started vaccinations, which is about 28% of the state’s population.
The Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines were all approved by the FDA and given emergency use authorization. According to the agency’s website, scientific experts “evaluated data from clinical studies that included tens of thousands of people. The data from these studies clearly show that the known and potential benefits of the FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccines greatly outweigh the known and potential risks.”
