Minn. reports COVID-19 infections in 0.1% of vaccinated people

Breakthrough infections continue to be rare among Minnesotans fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with 2,550 such cases reported Tuesday by the state Department of Health.

The breakthrough infections represent 0.1% of the nearly 2.3 million people who have been fully vaccinated in Minnesota, indicating to state health officials that the vaccine is protective. Fully vaccinated means that 14 days have elapsed since someone has received their final shots in the one- or two-dose series of COVID vaccines.

The breakthrough cases include 26 deaths and 239 people who were hospitalized — though some were admitted for other reasons and only learned of their infections through routine hospital testing.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a similar endorsement of vaccine effectiveness in a report Tuesday after reviewing a sampling of breakthrough infections reported by states through April. More than one-fourth of the breakthrough cases in the CDC sample were asymptomatic.

"The number of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths that will be prevented among vaccinated persons will far exceed the number of vaccine breakthrough cases," the CDC report stated.

In Minnesota, more than 2.8 million people have received at least a first dose — amounting to nearly 61% of the people 12 and older who are eligible.

The total includes more than 60,000 recipients ages 12 to 15 who became eligible earlier this month when the age cutoff for the Pfizer COVID vaccine was reduced from 16 to 12.

Nearly 64% of Minnesotans 16 and older have received vaccine, bringing the state closer to its incremental goal of a 70% vaccination rate among residents by July 1.

Pandemic measures continued to show reduced transmission with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes COVID-19 illness. The 256 infections reported Tuesday was the lowest single-day figure since last June, and the positivity rate of COVID diagnostic testing, a key measure of viral transmission, dropped to 4.2%; it had peaked at 7.5% on April 11.

The state reported 11 more COVID deaths, raising the state's toll to 7,381. The newly reported deaths included nine people who lived in private residences and two who lived in long-term care facilities that were prioritized for COVID vaccine earlier this winter.

Residents of long-term care made up 64% of Minnesota's COVID deaths in 2020, but only 48% of the deaths in 2021 so far and 26% of the deaths since April 1.

Hospitalizations for COVID in Minnesota declined from a peak of 699 on April 14 to 368 on Monday.

Minnesota in the pandemic has reported a total of 599,477 infections identified through diagnostic testing.

Minnesota ranked 13th among the states in its rate of fully vaccinated individuals, according to the weekly federal COVID-19 State Profile Report released on Tuesday. Despite its vaccine progress and declining infection numbers, Minnesota still ranked fourth worst among states in the week ending May 13 for its rate of new infections.

Genomic sequencing of lab samples from patients showed that Minnesota has seen a high rate of new infections involving a more infectious B.1.1.7 variant of the coronavirus. The state report indicated that B.1.1.7 was responsible for 75% of recent infections.

Jeremy Olson • 612-673-7744