A California nurse says he tested positive for the coronavirus after he received the first round of a COVID-19 vaccine.
10News in San Diego reported Matthew W., an ER nurse at two local hospitals, wrote on Facebook Dec. 18 about getting the first of two Pfizer vaccines on that day. He told 10News he had soreness in his arm after getting the vaccine shot but had no other side effects.
The Pfizer vaccine requires a second shot 21 days after the first.
According to the station, which didn’t report his full name, the 45-year-old became sick six days later on Christmas Eve. He said he experienced muscle aches and fatigue and had chills.
On Dec. 26, he went to a drive-up testing center. He tested positive for COVID-19.
Dr. Christian Ramers, an infectious disease specialist with Family Health Centers of San Diego, told the station the news wasn’t surprising and it’s possible Matthew was infected with the coronavirus before he got the first vaccine.
He said even if Matthew contracted the coronavirus after the vaccine, what happened isn’t out of line with what experts know.
“It’s not unexpected at all. If you work through the numbers, this is exactly what we’d expect to happen if someone was exposed,” he said.
Ramers mentioned other cases of health care workers getting infected after getting vaccinated. He said those cases and Matthew’s illustrate that results aren’t immediate, and full protection doesn’t happen after the first dose of the vaccine.
“That first dose we think gives you somewhere around 50%, and you need that second dose to get up to 95%,” Ramers told the local station.
“We know from the vaccine clinical trials that it’s going to take about 10 to 14 days for you to start to develop protection from the vaccine,” he said.
Although the vaccine is beginning to be disseminated across the country, the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says everyone should wash their hands often, avoid close contact, cover your mouth and nose with a mask when around others, cover coughs and sneezes, clean and disinfect, and monitor your health daily.
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