COVID-recovered Alaskan woman, 50, catches the virus for a second time AFTER being vaccinated with a Johnson & Johnson one-dose shot

• Kim Akers, 50, is one of a relatively low number of ‘breakthrough cases’ where those who have been fully vaccinated catch Covid-19
• The Palmer resident shared her story on Facebook to encourage people to get vaccinated and to keep wearing masks and social distancing
• Breakthrough cases have been reported around the US and elsewhere 
• No vaccine is 100 per cent effective at preventing Covid-19 infections, rather they help to prevent people becoming seriously ill or dying from the virus 

 

 

An Alaska woman has revealed how she recovered from Covid only to catch the virus again after being vaccinated with a Johnson & Johnson one-dose shot.

Kim Akers, a 50-year-old Palmer resident, first contracted the virus in December. 

She recovered and received her one-shot dose of the vaccine on March 5 before spending a cabin weekend at Lake Louise with family and friends, The Anchorage Daily News reported. 

Akers, who has an underlying health condition, thought she was protected having previously recovered from the virus and waited more than two weeks after getting her shot. 

However, during her trip she began to feel unwell, experiencing fatigue, nausea and chest congestion – and later found she had caught the virus again. 

The news came as the FDA and CDC recommended a pause in the US roll-out of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after six women developed rare blood clots and one died after receiving the shot.  

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‘I still didn’t believe anything was wrong,’ Akers told the paper. ‘I told my family I want to go home, ‘Not to worry – it’s not COVID.’ I said that’. 

In a Facebook post, Akers said it was only when she returned home and was struck with a splitting headache, similar to what she had experienced when she had Covid-19 last year, and lost her sense of taste and smell that she thought she should get tested as a precaution. 

‘I didn’t believe at that moment that it was it until I got home and thought about my symptoms and realized this headache is what I remember,’ she said. ‘Then I lost my taste and my smell.’

Akers tested positive again and suffered a constant headache for three days. She says she has now recovered though her sense of taste and smell are yet to return.

‘Just because you have had Covid or been fully vaccinated does not mean you can’t TEST POSITIVE,’ Akers wrote on Facebook.

The high school administrator told The Anchorage Daily News that she had decided to make her story public to show the importance of getting vaccinated.  

‘It would be great if it completely protected you,’ she said, but that’s not what vaccine is supposed to do. 

‘It’s to keep you out of the hospital and prevent death and hopefully lessen your symptoms.’

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She added that her experience has brought home the importance of wearing face masks and practicing social distancing.

Akers is among about at least 177 ‘breakthrough’ patients identified in Alaska, health department spokesman Clinton Bennett told The Anchorage Daily News. 

The FDA and CDC are recommending a pause in the US roll-out of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after six women developed rare blood clots and one died after receiving the shot. 

Seven million people in the US have had the one-shot vaccine. The percentage of people who have developed blood clots from it is 0.00008.  

The two authorities are not revoking emergency authorization of it, but say they are recommending a pause in the administering of it until more data is collected. 

It is now down to individual states to heed their advice and stop the roll-out, or carry on with it.

It’s unclear what the announcement means for people with appointments to receive the vaccine today. 

These are people that have reported testing positive for Covid-19 after getting fully vaccinated.   

Vaccine trials showed that the three vaccines approved in the US prevent between 66 and 95 percent of symptomatic infections, but we still do not know how well the vaccines prevent people from catching or spreading coronavirus.

So it’s little surprise that a relatively small number of people would test positive even after getting vaccinated.  

Of the 177 Alaskan patients, one person has required hospitalization and no one has died, Bennett told The Anchorage Daily News. The majority of those individuals have been asymptomatic.

Cases of vaccine breakthrough are being reported throughout the US and elsewhere. 

In late March, a New York woman revealed she had tested positive for Covid-19 after receiving the Moderna vaccine. 

Last week, Washington state reported 100 breakthrough infections since February 1. Eight people required hospitalization and two people over 80 with underlying health conditions died.

It is not clear what vaccine they received. 

In Michigan, 246 breakthrough patients were reported to have caught coronavirus between January and March. At least 11 were hospitalized and three died.

Three Hawaii residents also tested positive after receiving a vaccine, it was reported last month. It is not clear which vaccine they received.

Elsewhere, Argentine president Alberto Fernandez tested positive two months after receiving Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine.

 

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9465667/COVID-recovered-Alaskan-woman-catches-virus-second-time-vaccinated.html.html