Breakthrough Infections, Explained

For the past couple of weeks, some Americans have reported a curious phenomenon: They have caught the coronavirus despite being vaccinated.Vaccines are still doing their job by protecting against serious illness and hospitalization, but the frequency of so-called breakthrough infections has surprised experts.How do such cases happen, and what risks do they pose?Guest: Apoorva Mandavilli, a science and global health reporter for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: Breakthrough infections are still relatively uncommon, experts said, and those that cause serious illness, hospitalization or death even more so.While being fully inoculated protects against serious illness and hospitalization from Covid-19, no vaccine offers 100 percent protection, and vaccinated people may need to take a few more precautions. Here’s what you need to know.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.  Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.