Unvaccinated Worker at Nursing Home Causes Outbreak: 22 Fully-Vaccinated Individuals Infected, 1 Died

The case of an unvaccinated worker has turned into an unexpected disaster at a nursing home.

In conjunction with this happening, a new study revealed on Wednesday, Apr. 21 that 22 of the affected individuals in the outbreak got infected despite being fully vaccinated.

Out of those who have already received complete COVID-19 vaccination but were infected, one has died while no further development of symptoms was seen in the remaining patients.

A Study About the Unvaccinated Worker Nursing Home Outbreak

An unusual case of COVID-19 infection took place in one nursing home in Kentucky.

According to a study entitled "COVID-19 Outbreak Associated with a SARS-CoV-2 R.1 Lineage Variant in a Skilled Nursing Facility After Vaccination Program" published in CDC, a total of 26 facility residents caught the infection.

Out of those numbers, 18 were reportedly vaccinated. There were also 20 health care workers that were infected, and four of them have already received a vaccine. Two residents who were not yet vaccinated passed away.

The authors of the study said that what they wanted to point out is the relevance of being vaccinated. Most importantly, the daily interaction of the health care workers and residents in the nursing home exposes them all to a possible risk of acquiring coronavirus.

As of March this year, only 58 employees were vaccinated even though the vaccination among 83 residents has already rolled out.

Moreover, the study also tackled the necessary health protocols that should be implemented in the area. Precautionary measures such as routine testing, wearing proper attire, and other safety protocols should continue despite the rising vaccination rates.

Getting vaccinated does not guarantee that the infection could not touch you anymore. Furthermore, people should also be aware that the virus is continuously mutating and producing various variants.

Kentucky Outbreak Prompts Vaccination Among All Employees and Residents

One of the contributors to the accelerating trends in the COVID-19 outbreak is the low acceptance rates of vaccination. The authors also noted that the vaccine resistance among health care workers becomes sudden.

"To protect skilled nursing facility residents, it is imperative that health care providers, as well as skilled nursing facility residents, be vaccinated," the study authors said.

In the study, the COVID-19 variants were seen to have undergone several mutations in the spike protein. This causes the vaccines to be less efficient.

Those who are already vaccinated, regardless if they are health care personnel or residents in Kentucky have less chance of getting infected compared to those who are unvaccinated.

The vaccine involved was the Pfizer-BioNTech which exhibits a 66% efficiency rate for residents. On the other hand, it was 75.9% efficient for the employees.

When it comes to symptomatic disease protection, the vaccine posed an 86 to 87% efficiency rate.

While the authors identified that the D614G variant displayed a high risk of being transmitted to a person. The said variant was not indicated in the list made by CDC.

There was also the E484K variant which is the spike protein's receptor-binding domain. The same observation was observed in the South African variant, B.1.351, Brazilian variant, P.1, and the W152L which could trigger antibodies' declining effectiveness in neutralizing the virus.

Related Article: US Awaits CDC Epidemiological Assessments on COVID-19 Before Allowing Travel Abroad

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Joseph Henry