Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., announced on Friday that he had tested positive for COVID-19 even after receiving both doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
In a statement, Lynch spokeswoman Molly Rose Tarpey explained the congressman came into contact with a staff member who had tested positive for the virus earlier last week.
But theoretically, Lynch should not have been able to contract the virus from this staffer since he had already been completely vaccinated.
“This afternoon U.S. Representative Stephen F. Lynch received a positive test result for COVID-19 Friday after a staff member in the Congressman’s Boston office had tested positive earlier in the week,” Tarpey said, according to Boston.com.
Lynch “had received the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine and subsequently received a negative COVID-19 test prior to attending President Biden’s Inauguration. While Mr. Lynch remains asymptomatic and feels fine, he will self-quarantine and will vote by proxy in Congress during the coming week,” she added.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explained that it is still possible to contract the virus after getting vaccinated, because it takes the body several weeks to build viral immunity.
“It typically takes a few weeks for the body to build immunity (protection against the virus that causes COVID-19) after vaccination,” says the CDC’s website.
“That means it’s possible a person could be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 just before or just after vaccination and still get sick,” said the site. “This is because the vaccine has not had enough time to provide protection.”
Other health experts noted that the vaccine is intended to prevent illness, not infection. If someone contacts the coronavirus but does not get sick from it, the vaccine is working as it should, the CDC said.
The Pfizer vaccine is administered in two doses with an interval of 21 days between shots, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
