By NewsDesk  @infectiousdiseasenews

A report from the Swedish Public Health Agency shows that of the several hundred thousand people in Sweden who have received two COVID-19 vaccine doses and about 200 people have so far tested positive for COVID-19.

Image by Wilfried Pohnke from Pixabay

The Swedish Public Health Agency continuously monitors the number of so-called breakthrough infections in Sweden, ie cases where people have tested positive for covid-19 after they have been vaccinated. This is to gain more knowledge about the effectiveness of vaccinations in the population.

In total, more than one million people in Sweden have been vaccinated with one dose and about 430,000 people with two doses. About 6,000 people have so far been found to have covid-19 after their first vaccine dose. Almost 4,000 of them tested positive within the first two weeks after the first dose, ie before the body had time to build up a protection. Only about 200 people were found to have been infected with covid-19 more than two weeks after the second dose. This corresponds to 0.07 percent of the total number of covid-19 cases since the turn of the year, and 0.06 percent of all those vaccinated with two doses.

The fact that so few people are infected after receiving their second vaccine dose indicates that the vaccines used against COVID-19 in Sweden work well, says state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell.

The Swedish Public Health Agency notes no vaccine provides 100% protection, and breakthrough infections occur for all types of vaccines. When it comes to vaccination against COVID-19, the first analyzes show that the number of breakthrough infections in Sweden is in line with what is expected, says Tegnell.