The Delta variant has dramatically changed what we once thought was true about the coronavirus.
While vaccinated people continue to enjoy much greater protection from infection or serious COVID-19 illness than the unvaccinated, it’s now clear that even those who have gotten their shots can still contract and spread the virus.
“One thing is for sure: Vaccinated people can get infected, and they can transmit to other vaccinated people,” Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Thursday. “Vax-on-vax transmission has happened.”
Health officials stress the risk of that happening is much lower than transmission among the unvaccinated, and that the vaccines are effective at staving off the worst health impacts of COVID-19.
Nevertheless, the ubiquity of Delta throughout California and the country should be cause for some caution, particularly heading into Labor Day weekend, officials say.