Emergency nurse tests positive for COVID-19 eight days after vaccination

An emergency nurse in the United States has tested positive for COVID-19 just eight days after getting the vaccine. A Californian ER nurse who works at two hospitals in San Diego, identified as Matthew on social media, received the Pfizer vaccine on December 18, according to an Instagram post.
“Got my COVID vaccine!” he wrote.
“The 15 minutes afterwards sitting around with a bunch of others while healthcare workers asked us how we felt made me think of an opium den. I’ll report back if I start to grow a third arm.”
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However, Matthew started feeling sick a week later on Christmas Eve with chills, muscle aches and fatigue after working a shift in one of the hospital’s COVID-19 units, he told ABC 10 News.
On December 26, he tested positive for coronavirus, The Daily Mail reported.
Dr Christian Ramers, an infectious disease specialist with Family Health Centers of San Diego, told the network he isn’t surprised and said the result is “not unexpected”.
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“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.
Dr Ramers added Matthew could have been infected with coronavirus before he was vaccinated.
“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,” Dr Ramers said.
The doctor added he was aware of other cases of healthcare workers becoming infected around the time they received the vaccine.
“That first dose we think gives you somewhere around 50 per cent, and you need that second dose to get up to 95 per cent,” Dr Ramers said.
Matthew said his symptoms have improved and he is feeling better.
VACCINE IN OZ
Meanwhile, Australia’s COVID-19 vaccination plan remains on track as authorities continue to monitor the rollout overseas.
Acting chief medical officer Paul Kelly told reporters on Wednesday that the vaccination plan was “on target”.
“We are going ahead with all of those preparatory phases, which includes the procurement of vaccines, making sure that those deliveries are coming when they need to be here, that our regulators are continuing to work through this period and are eagerly awaiting further information from both AstraZeneca and Pfizer in the coming days,” he said.
Professor Kelly said there were still no “full approvals” anywhere in the world for a COVID-19 vaccine, and only emergency use was happening in some parts of the world where it was needed.
“They are very limited and we are now a few weeks into that situation in the UK, in the US and other places,” he said.
“(We) are watching very closely what is happening in relation to, firstly, the plans of the rollout and how that’s working, what we can learn from those things but particularly any safety concerns that may emerge with this increased numbers of vaccines that have been given in other parts of the world.”
Professor Kelly said the Therapeutic Goods Administration would do a fast but thorough assessment.
“People should have confidence in that regulatory approach here in Australia, particularly around safety but also quality of these brand new vaccines,” he said.