Vaccinated and still infected: So-called vaccination breakthroughs occur again and again. Because the Covid vaccination offers very good, but not one hundred percent protection against infection. Within a week, the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) was last reported 103 cases of fully vaccinated people who had a positive corona test. Seven had to go to the hospital. This emerges from the latest weekly report by the BAG.
The number of unreported cases is increasing
The numbers are important to be able to judge how well the vaccination actually protects – and to see how much the protection decreases over time. However, their informative value is limited. The federal government is already assuming a “considerable number of unreported cases”. In the future, it will be even more difficult to keep track of vaccination breakthroughs. Because the more people are vaccinated, the less they can be tested. And the fewer tests, the higher the number of unreported cases.
That is why the BAG now wants to act. Representative sample tests are now to be carried out in Switzerland. This is evident from the documents that the federal government sent the cantons for consultation.
Tests on seniors and soldiers
The FOPH has two groups in mind: senior citizens and soldiers. Every month several thousand members of the army are to be tested when entering service. The aim is to get an idea of how the virus is spreading in the young, very mobile population. With a second sample consisting of over 70-year-olds and the chronically ill, one wants to keep an eye on the group of people at risk at the same time. Among other things, senior citizens in old people’s and nursing homes are to be tested.
With the sample tests, the federal government wants to prevent it from blindly walking into the next wave. “The aim is that, thanks to the random samples, we can estimate how frequent vaccination breakthroughs are,” the FOPH announced. “This way we can recognize ahead of time if the situation should come to a head again. And can react. ”
Mass tests in schools also play an important role in this regard. “The virus can spread quickly through schools. The spread must be controlled here in order to detect local outbreaks early on and to weaken the spread, ”said a BAG spokesman. It is therefore very important that as many cantons as possible test regularly in schools.
Vaccination protection is high
The federal government assumes that the number of unreported cases of vaccination breakthroughs is considerable. But even if you add this, the number is low, the BAG notes. In addition, the vaccination not only provides good protection against infection, but above all it is very effective against a serious, in the worst case even fatal, disease.