Vaccinated Vilnius Still Infected With Coronavirus: Doctors Explain Why This Happens

“I saw the temperature and saw that it had risen to 38 degrees. I felt the same the next morning so I took my medication. But the temperature didn’t drop at all, then it went back up to 38 degrees, then I took a stronger drug for the night and the temperature dropped.

On the third day I felt fine, only my muscles, back and legs ached, I had little strength and I started to cough a little. Cough, aches, and mild fever (37-37.5) bothered for a couple more days, followed by cough, mild fever, and runny nose. One week after vaccination, I took a COVID-19 test and it came back positive. Today I still have a runny nose, how much I wake up and there are various parts of the temperature, I feel very tired, lack of appetite and drowsiness ”, said the interlocutor Monika.

Approximately 7 days after vaccination and three days after a runny nose, the sense of smell and taste decreased. The test was performed by Monika 8 days after vaccination and was positive, according to the interlocutor.

So how could COVID-19 be diagnosed after the first dose of the vaccine?

The amount of antibodies was too small to protect against infection.

Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (LSMU) Head of Infectious Diseases Clinic prof. Dr. Auksė Mickienė explained that such a variant is really possible and quite understandable. Because, according to the interlocutor, it takes 2 to 3 weeks after the vaccine for the body to develop antibodies. Also, after the first dose, even after a few weeks, there is certainly no complete protection from the vaccine, so a second dose is needed.

“It does not mean that the vaccine does not work. It is a very short time for antibodies to form, “he explained.

The longest incubation period is up to 14 days, from infection to the onset of symptoms. This means that, in this case, Monica could have been infected a few days before or a few days after the vaccination.

“It just came to our knowledge then. We always say that after vaccination, there is no protection neither the next day nor the next day. The immune system takes between 2 and 3 weeks to respond,” the doctor recalled.

Different vaccines, depending on the interlocutor, have different intervals, but there is no vaccine that provides complete protection after 2 days. According to the professor, it takes time for the immune system to start producing antibodies.

“With most vaccines, this happens after 2-3 weeks. It also depends on what the vaccination schedule is, if it’s just a dose or two. But the general pattern is similar. If a patient develops between the first and second doses of the vaccine, a second dose of the vaccine is required at the end of the contagion period. The vaccine will not make the disease worse in the affected person and there is no evidence that the immunity is too weak or too strong. This is a normal phenomenon, nothing special, “said Prof. A. Mickienė.

According to the professor, antibodies are produced gradually, so the specific immune response intensifies with each passing day.

“Only God knows what happened in his case when he got infected and got sick, how much protection he had or didn’t have, we don’t know. We can only speculate if the course of the disease will be easier, but it will be more serious, it will not be like that ”, assured the interlocutor.

The professor also recalled that many of these cases occurred at the end of December, when the vaccination of doctors began. There were many doctors at that time who got sick between the first and second doses, as there was a spike in the second wave at that time.

“They all got sick, finished their vaccinations, and none was that the course of the disease was exceptionally more severe. I think the course of the disease will be the way she was destined to get sick, “said Prof. A. Mickienė.

The professor mentioned that there is growing evidence that a single dose of the vaccine is sufficient for those who have been infected with coronavirus. Still, there is more talk about those who got sick before vaccination began. In such individuals, a single dose of the vaccine produces good immunity.

The same opinion was expressed by the infectologist, Professor Alvydas Laiškonis. According to him, a positive result for coronavirus after vaccination is a natural and simple phenomenon.

“No antibodies were made for her, she was vaccinated during the incubation period and she got sick. She thought she was healthy, and the test may not have shown anything either, since it all depends on the concentration of the virus in the body at the time. Its concentration generally increases during a week, and the incubation period, when symptoms do not appear, is up to 10 days, the longest up to 14 days ”, said prof. A. Laiškonis.