Breakthrough cases: 97 vaccinated Idahoans have since tested positive

Just under 100 Idahoans vaccinated against COVID-19 have since tested positive for the virus.

The state’s Department of Health and Welfare announced Tuesday that 97 vaccinated residents have tested positive since receiving their doses and boosters. Of the nearly 274,000 Idahoans who have been fully vaccinated, the 97 cases represents just over three-100ths of 1 percent of the population.

“No vaccine is 100 percent," said state epidemiologist Dr. Christine Hahn. “We’ve seen some people get vaccinated and get COVID.”

Of those cases — dubbed “breakthrough cases” by the Centers for Disease Control — the department is reporting that roughly half experienced no symptoms, with the other half reporting mild to moderate symptoms.

Three have been hospitalized, and all three suffered from pre-existing conditions that make them more susceptible to severe illness. None died.

“There’s two things we’re looking for,” Hahn said. “A big decrease in the number of people getting COVID (after getting vaccinated), which we believe has happened, but it’s not a whole lot. Secondly, they’d be less severely ill. Amongst the cases, we want to see from people maybe getting diagnosed … many of them are asymptomatic.”

Of the 97 cases, 51 had received doses of the Pfizer vaccine, while the rest had received Moderna.

The announcement comes amid a wave of state agencies across the country acknowledging similar outliers since Friday. The CDC is gathering data on America’s breakthrough cases, something Gov. Brad Little said shouldn’t impact the progress Idaho has made to vaccinate the population into herd immunity.

“The only thing we’re really concerned about is the variants and the ebb and flow of (the) increased infection rate in the states,” Little said in a separate conference call Tuesday. “But if you look at a map of the United States, that’s happening in a lot of states. I feel pretty good about where we are. I’d feel a lot better if we had 70 or 80 percent of our population vaccinated. But we’ve got a plan to get there.”

That 70-80 percent threshold is nowhere near reached. Of the 1.8 million Idaho residents, 273,535 have been fully vaccinated, marking just over 15 percent of the population. The slowdown in dose administration led Little to open up vaccines to all Idahoans 16 and older on April 5. Panhandle Health opened up all North Idaho residents 16 and older to vaccine eligibility on March 24.

Dave Jeppesen, director of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, said Tuesday that 100,000 are currently on the state waiting list, with about half having already scheduled appointments and the other half waiting for their particular eligibilities.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Idaho’s overall positivity rate was just over the benchmark goal of 5%. Five county incident rates — all in eastern Idaho, where outbreaks have surged — have approached or crossed 25 percent. But in Kootenai County, one of five counties Panhandle Health has opened up to full vaccinations, the positivity rate has dropped to 3.5%, according to Idaho Health and Welfare.

Little expressed pride in the way Idahoans have weathered the COVID-19 pandemic, marking just over a year since his initial stay-home orders last March 25.

“I’m trying to harken back to where we were a year ago,” he said. “I remember a lot of what we talked about a year ago is, ‘We don’t know what we don’t know.’ There are a lot of things we know about, but there’s still some things we don’t know.”