Piron Guillaume
Piron Guillaume

Tracking breakthrough COVID-19 infections in an Israeli hospital

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Peer-reviewed: This work was reviewed and scrutinised by relevant independent experts.

Observational study: A study in which the subject is observed to see if there is a relationship between two or more things (eg: the consumption of diet drinks and obesity). Observational studies cannot prove that one thing causes another, only that they are linked.

People: This is a study based on research using people.

'Breakthrough' COVID-19 infections in fully vaccinated people could be linked to a weaker immune response after vaccination, according to an international study. Researchers monitored fully vaccinated healthcare workers in an Israeli hospital to see how many still became infected. In a group of 1497 workers fully vaccinated with Pfizer, 39 became infected. Most of these workers had mild or no symptoms, however just under one in five were affected for more than six weeks. Looking at the level of antibodies in the system of the workers as they were becoming infected, the researchers say the infected workers had fewer antibodies than their colleagues who were not infected with the virus.

Journal/conference: NEJM

Link to research (DOI): 10.1056/NEJMoa2109072

Organisation/s: Sheba Medical Center, Israel

Funder: No funding declared.

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