VERIFY: Can you test positive for COVID-19 after being fully vaccinated?

MICHIGAN, USA — There is a lot of misinformation on social media regarding COVID-19 and the vaccine.

A 13 ON YOUR SIDE viewer named Patty who lives in Spring Lake wanted to know, "with the new COVID cases surging, are there any cases in people that are fully vaccinated?"

Our expert sources:

• The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas
• The University of California
• The CDC

The first study involved eight thousand employees from Texas Southwestern Medical Center. It documented what is known as 'breakthrough cases,' in other words, cases when someone has been fully vaccinated and still tests positive for COVID-19. But the numbers are small. Out of the eight thousand who participated, just four people caught the virus.

In a larger study of more than fourteen thousand people at two University of California campuses. Thirty-seven fully vaccinated individuals tested positive.   Overall-- researchers estimated the positivity rate for these fully vaccinated health care workers around 1-percent.

So why is this the case?

The CDC describes the vaccine Efficacy rate at around 95 percent for Moderna and Pfizer. That means five percent could still catch the virus, but research shows the symptoms would be much less severe.

We can Verify that yes, there are some COVID-19 cases among people who are fully vaccinated, but they are rare, and you are less likely to get really sick.

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