Rare ‘breakthrough’ COVID cases are causing alarm, confusion

UNDATED (AP)- While reports of athletes, lawmakers and others occasionally getting the coronavirus despite vaccination may sound alarming, top health experts point to overwhelming evidence that the shots dramatically reduce severe disease and death. The best indicator: In the U.S., hospitalizations and deaths are nearly all among the unvaccinated, and data from Britain and Israel agree protection remains strong against the worst cases. No vaccine is perfect but what scientists call “breakthrough” infections in the fully vaccinated are a small fraction of coronavirus cases. That’s even in the face of the highly contagious delta variant that is burning through unvaccinated communities.