COVID-19 Data Today - Vaccine Breakthrough Cases and Vaccine Data Dashboard Updates

Vaccine breakthrough case data

Today, the Minnesota Department of Health is adding some COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough data to our website: COVID-19 Vaccine Breakthrough Weekly Update.

COVID-19 vaccines are effective. However, a small percentage of people who are fully vaccinated will still get COVID-19 if they are exposed to the virus that causes it. It is normal with any vaccine to see a percent of vaccinated people still get sick. These are called “vaccine breakthrough cases.” A vaccine breakthrough case of COVID-19 is when a person tests positive 14 or more days after their final dose of vaccine, and the person has not previously tested positive for COVID-19.

We have been actively monitoring and tracking COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough cases to better understand what is happening in Minnesota.

Vaccination can make illness less severe in people who get vaccinated but still get sick. Despite this, some fully vaccinated people will still be hospitalized and die. However, fully vaccinated people are much less likely to be hospitalized or die than people with similar risk factors who are not vaccinated.

As the data on the new web page shows, COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough cases have been uncommon. Less than 0.2% of people who were fully vaccinated, meaning 14 days since their final dose, later became infected with the virus. In other words, 99.8% of people fully vaccinated have not gotten COVID-19. COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths among people who were fully vaccinated are even less common with 0.02% of people who were fully vaccinated being hospitalized and 0.002% of them dying of COVID-19.

Vaccination continues to be the best prevention measure against COVID-19. We encourage everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated as soon as they can.

Vaccine data dashboard updates

A couple of updates are happening on the COVID-19 vaccine data dashboard today. The updates are:

• Adding CDC data for Minnesotans age 18 and older who have received at least one vaccine dose who have completed the vaccine series. This will be a dial added on the "Summary" tab.

• Removing the percentage of doses administered by providers, 7-day goal. This information was reflected on the "Summary" tab, "Vaccines Administered" tab, and on the "Provider Goals tab. This metric was important early in the vaccine rollout when the supply of vaccine was much lower than demand. There is now ample supply of vaccine, so this measure is no longer needed.

• Adding a graph showing second dose completion data on the "Vaccines Administered" tab.

The updates will help Minnesotans be able to continue to track COVID-19 vaccination progress across the state.