PA Breakthrough Covid Cases Disappear

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

In mid-April, Pennsylvania health officials disclosed there had been 332 breakthrough cases, cases in which vaccinated patients contracted Covid-19 more than two weeks after a final injection.
This week, more than a month and a half later, they reported only 294 breakthroughs. Similar figures were reported at the federal level, 5.800 breakthrough cases in April and 2,737 currently.
The discrepancies have a simple explanation. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed the definition of a breakthrough case. The new definition, adopted retroactively on May 1, counts only those breakthrough cases resulting in hospitalization or death.
Pennsylvania health officials say the change allows health officials to focus on "the cases of highest clinical and public health significance."
Mark O'Neill, a state health department spokesman, said data collected thus far shows those who test positive for Covid-19 after being vaccinated "are far less likely to show severe symptoms or require hospitalization and that the amount of virus they shed will be much lower."
Some health experts disagree and have charged that the effect of the new policy is to put on a blindfold.
Robert H. Shmerling MD of Harvard Health Publishing called the shift "disappointing."
Advantages of collecting data on all breakthrough cases, he wrote, include the possibilities determining that one of the appoved vaccines is more susceptible to breakthroughs than the others.
He speculated that another reason for the CDC change might be the concern that if the public perception was that the vaccines were not working, people would be discouraged from getting vaccinated.
Shmerling also noted more detailed data on all breakthroughs might reveal whether certain age groups or genders are more susceptible to breakthroughs.
"It would seem wise to pay more, not less attention" to breakthrough data, Shmerling concluded.
Supporters of the CDC change point out that breakthroughs were not unexpected since the two most effective of the vaccines are only about 95 per cent effective.
O'Neill, the state spokesman said that even the revised figures may overstate the number of significant breakthrough cases.
"It would clearly be inaccurate to state that all of the 257 hospitalizations and 37 deaths were related to COVID-19," he wrote in an email response to questions.
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