40 Healthcare Workers in M’sia Tested Positive for COVID-19 Even After Completing Vaccination

When you thought there’s light at the end of the dreary tunnel that is the COVID-19 pandemic, this happens!

Honestly, when will this nightmare end?

I want to go back hugging random strangers and shaking hands instead of bumping elbows… errr, no one else? Just me? Okay.jpg.

Infected despite being fully-vaccinated

According to the health director-general of Malaysia, Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, 40 healthcare workers have tested positive for COVID-19 although they have already completed both doses of their COVID-19 vaccination.

Out of the 40, 31 workers caught the coronavirus within less than 2 weeks after taking their final dose while 9 workers were infected more than 2 weeks after completing their vaccination.

That said, the good doctor noted that the vaccinated workers suffer from less severe symptoms, adding that “although vaccine gives a glimmer of hope to fight against COVID-19, make no mistake that we can relax all the public health measures after vaccination.”

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first such reported case in the world.

Multiple cases of fully vaccinated people contracting COVID-19, albeit a milder version of it, have been documented across the globe.

In Singapore alone, there has been a case involving an Indian national who tested positive for the coronavirus on Apr 7 despite completing his vaccination on Feb 17.

The man’s earlier routine test results were all negative.

Malaysia 

Currently, Malaysia has inoculated over 438,000 people under the first phase of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme as of last Friday.

The second phase, which will emphasize vaccinating the elderly, the disabled, and people with morbidity problems, such as high blood pressure, is poised to begin on Apr 19.

Eligible people will receive a notification via their MySejahtera app with the appointment details.

Why are vaccinated people still catching COVID-19?

Well, as effective as these COVID-19 vaccines are, none of them have 100% efficiency at combating the coronavirus.

Not to mention, the higher efficiency rating that both mRNA vaccines are likely the result of the controlled trial. In the real-world setting, the rating is usually much lower.

According to Associate Professor Hsu Li Yang, Infectious Diseases Programme Leader at the National University of Singapore’s Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, he pointed out that reports from the US and Israel showed that the efficacy of the vaccine was actually less than 90%, which to be fair, is still an A by our grading standards.

He added that, “what this means is that one in 20 persons on average would still develop COVID-19 if exposed to the virus.”

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