Six questions answered about catching COVID-19 after vaccination

Sanjay Mishra, PhD, Vanderbilt University

If you’ve been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, maybe you figured you no longer need to worry about contracting the coronavirus. But along with the rising number of new COVID-19 cases globally and growing concern about highly transmissible strains like the delta variant come reports of fully vaccinated people testing positive for COVID-19.

William G. Bain, University of Pittsburgh; Georgios D. Kitsios, University of Pittsburgh, and Tomeka L. Suber, University of Pittsburgh

A year ago, when U.S. health authorities issued their first warning that COVID-19 would cause severe “disruption to everyday life,” doctors had no effective treatments to offer beyond supportive care.

There is still no quick cure, but thanks to an unprecedented global research effort, several treatments are helping patients survive COVID-19 and stay out of the hospital altogether.

With the delta variant making up over 93% of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. at the end of July 2021, questions arise about how to stay protected against evolving forms of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Here, pediatrician and infectious disease specialist Dr. Lilly Cheng Immergluck of Morehouse School of Medicine answers some common questions about variants and what you can do to best protect yourself.

1. What are variants and how do they emerge?

Viruses mutate over time to adapt to their environment and improve their survival. Over the course of the pandemic, SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, has mutated enough to change both its ability to spread through the population and its ability to infect people.