Covid, positive Spanish nurse after the vaccine: what happened – Corriere.it

A Spanish nurse tested positive for coronavirus 24 hours after receiving the first dose of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine. The Country informs it. The woman is part of the team of vaccinators that began to inject serum to the residents of a nursing home in Lleida, Catalonia, last Sunday. A coronavirus test performed the next day came back positive. The other four nurses on the team and the 66 guests at the facility were placed in preventive isolation. Another nurse employed at the residence tested positive yesterday but the Catalan Department of Health explained that there is no relationship between the two cases. Authorities cannot explain what caused the contagion. SheThe nurses wore coveralls, gloves and double masks and had not been in contact with the elderly for 15 minutes. that medical protocols define close contact with a positive. The Health Department did not perform diagnostic tests before vaccination began on the more than 2,000 nurses who participated in the mass immunization program. According to a Health spokesperson, these are professionals who follow the protocols of their respective health centers.

What might have happened

What might have happened?

First of all, it should be clarified that protection against the coronavirus in the first 7 days after inoculation of the first dose of Pfizer vaccine nothing. Protection increases over time and is completed one week after inoculation of the second dose (which occurs 21 days after the first). So in the first days after the vaccine, as with other vaccines, you are not protected.

But there is more. The nurse was positive 24 hours after vaccination: this means who was infected 1-2 days before vaccination. In short, when she was vaccinated she was already infected and nothing can be done by the vaccine (which is preventive) once the infection has occurred.

In short, the case – as Silvio Garattini, president of the Mario Negri Institute explains – is not surprising and should not cause alarm. The Pfizer vaccine, the only one currently distributed in Europe, requires two doses to be effective: the first and then a booster after 21 days. So since the woman only received the first dose, it is clear that she has not yet developed immunity. And from the day of the first dose, 28 must pass to be reasonably safe. The recommendation – he explains to the Agi- is to maintain precautionary measures, starting with the masks, even once vaccinated. Because we know that the vaccine in 90-95% of cases certainly protects against the development of the symptoms of the disease, which is obviously the most important thing, but it is not ruled out that it can still be infected, although with a very low viral load. It will take a sufficient number of vaccinated people and an adequate amount of time to find out.