Variants of Concern Are Overrepresented Among Postvaccination Breakthrough Infections of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Washington State

Abbye E McEwen; Seth Cohen; Chloe Bryson-Cahn; Catherine Liu; Steven A Pergam; John Lynch; Adrienne Schippers; Kathy Strand; Estella Whimbey; Nandita S Mani; Allison J Zelikoff; Vanessa A Makarewicz; Elizabeth R Brown; Shah A Mohamed Bakhash; Noah R Baker; Jared Castor; Robert J Livingston; Meei-Li Huang; Keith R Jerome; Alexander L Greninger; Pavitra Roychoudhury

doi:10.1093/cid/ciab581

Variants of Concern Are Overrepresented Among Postvaccination Breakthrough Infections of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Washington State

Clin Infect Dis. 2022 Mar 23;74(6):1089-1092. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciab581.

Authors

Abbye E McEwen¹, Seth Cohen², Chloe Bryson-Cahn², Catherine Liu³, Steven A Pergam³, John Lynch², Adrienne Schippers⁴, Kathy Strand⁴, Estella Whimbey², Nandita S Mani², Allison J Zelikoff⁵, Vanessa A Makarewicz⁵, Elizabeth R Brown³, Shah A Mohamed Bakhash¹, Noah R Baker¹, Jared Castor¹, Robert J Livingston¹, Meei-Li Huang¹, Keith R Jerome^{1

3}, Alexander L Greninger^{1

3}, Pavitra Roychoudhury^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
² Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
³ Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington, USA.
⁴ Department of Infection Prevention and Employee Health, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, Washington, USA.
⁵ Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.

Abstract

Across 20 vaccine breakthrough cases detected at our institution, all 20 (100%) infections were due to variants of concern (VOCs) and had a median Ct of 20.2 (IQR, 17.1-23.3). When compared with 5174 contemporaneous samples sequenced in our laboratory, VOCs were significantly enriched among breakthrough infections (P < .05).

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; sequencing; vaccine breakthrough; variants of concern.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Base Sequence
COVID-19 Vaccines
COVID-19* / epidemiology
COVID-19* / prevention & control
Humans
SARS-CoV-2*
Washington / epidemiology

Substances

COVID-19 Vaccines

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding