People are contracting COVID-19 even after being fully vaccinated

They’re called COVID-19 breakthrough cases — people who have been fully vaccinated yet still contract the virus more than 14 days after their second shot.

The cases are popping up around the country, including in Central Florida.

Hanna Rewerts, 27, is a physical therapist and has been tested for COVID-19 at least once a week since the pandemic started.

She says she got her first positive test just days ago.

“I was shocked, you know,” Rewerts told News 6. “Immediately I’m like, ‘This has to be a false-positive. This can’t be right.’”

But multiple tests confirmed it.

She said she was shocked because she is also fully vaccinated.

As a health care worker, Rewerts had her first dose of the Pfizer vaccine in December 2020, according to her vaccine card. Her second dose was three weeks later in January.

More than two months after the second shot, she contracted the virus.

“So it’s just, it’s very odd,” Rewerts said.

Rewerts is among a growing number of people.

Earlier this month, the Minnesota Department of Health released a health advisory stating that along with the CDC, it is investigating COVID-19 infections among people who are “appropriately vaccinated,” also called vaccine breakthrough cases, according to the advisory.

News 6 checked and the Florida Department of Health in Volusia County has six documented breakthrough cases while Sumter County has six and Lake County has 26 cases, according to emails from each county’s spokesperson.

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