Lately, we’ve seen an uptake in teachers and students testing positive for COVID — including ones who were vaccinated and wore masks in class. How come? Below are a few questions regarding vaccinations and the Delta variant that can hopefully clear up confusion around new cases.

Why did I get COVID even though I’m vaccinated?

It may be that you’re part of a small percentage of people that the vaccine you took doesn’t work on. Or you’re infected with a variant that the vaccine you took doesn’t provide immunity for. COVID vaccines are highly effective for COVID-19 and also very effective for the Delta variant. They’re especially effective at keeping people from getting hospitalized or dying. As of July 21, only 43 of the 8,787 COVID deaths in Texas were fully vaccinated people. There is a correlation between deaths and being unvaccinated.

It’s still unclear as to why vaccinated people get COVID, but there are a number of external factors that play a part in getting infected, like the transmission rates of the virus in your area, the amount of unvaccinated and infected people in your area, and your immune system.

Should I get vaccinated if I’ve gotten COVID before?

Yes. People who get the virus have about 3 months of immunity once they recover, but they can still get COVID-19 and its variants multiple times afterward. Variants are rapidly evolving and have different characteristics and symptoms, so you can’t be sure what kind of sickness you’ll feel if you get infected again. 

Theoretically, if you get vaccinated and then get exposed to a virus, the virus can’t make copies of itself inside your body. This means that vaccines can help stop variants from forming, though it’s important to remember that variants evolve faster than vaccines. Variants are a real threat that’s keeping this pandemic alive; if we can somehow protect against all iterations of COVID, then we’ll be in a safer place.

What is this Delta variant that’s been in the news lately?

To understand the Delta variant, let’s first understand what a variant is.

When you’re infected with a virus, the virus particles enter your body and make copies of themselves. If you give the virus to another person, the same thing happens in their body. 

A virus is made up of genetic information. When the virus makes copies, the genetic info inside them sometimes assembles in a slightly different way. It’s like if you were to draw the same object 10 times–each drawing might look slightly different (except with viruses, it’s on a WAY smaller level). These changes are called mutations, and they create new variants of a virus that are in the same family but may have slight differences. For example, the Delta variant spreads twice as fast as SARS-CoV-2 (the official name for the coronavirus that started the pandemic).

New Flu: Variants are why a new flu vaccine comes out every year. Scientists predict how the flu virus will evolve and create a new vaccine to fight against the next variant. Sometimes when we have a particularly bad flu season, it’s because of new variants that evolved faster than the vaccine.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)’s COVID classification system, the Delta variant is one of four “variants of concern” in the United States. The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified 13 variants of COVID-19 worldwide.

The COVID vaccines are effective against the variant, but there still are breakthrough cases where vaccinated people get the Delta variant. Unvaccinated people are at much higher risk of getting SARS-CoV-2 or the Delta variant than vaccinated people are.

The FDA approved the Pfizer vaccine on Aug 23. Are the other vaccines safe?

Yes. All other vaccines have “emergency use authorization” as granted by the FDA, meaning they can be given to the public even though they’re not fully approved through the FDA process. However, that doesn’t mean the other vaccines are bad; they just hadn’t presented their data as early as Pfizer did. 

Dr. Anthony Fauci (Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Chief Medical Advisor to the President) addressed this on PBS Newshour. “I don’t think people should interpret, by any means, that there’s any difference in safety or efficacy with [the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines] because Pfizer came first,” Dr. Fauci said. “Pfizer presented their data in a very timely way to the FDA. Moderna is a bit behind in the presentation of their data to the FDA. That doesn’t mean the data is any less effective or less safe. It’s just that’s the timing of when they present it.”

What else can I do to stay safe?

• Wear a mask. The virus spreads through the mouth and nose. If you wear a mask (correctly), you block your mouth and nose, which decreases the transmission of the virus.

• Wash your hands frequently. This may seem unimportant because the virus travels through the mouth and nose, but it’s very important at this time to be as clean and sanitary as possible. Handwashing is the best; hand sanitizer is the next best option.

Have any other questions about COVID? Contact Medha Sarin at medhasarin1@gmail.com or on Instagram, or contact The Roar on Instagram or Twitter. Find CSISD’s COVID dashboard here. Refer to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for more information.