More Than 70 MA Residents Die Despite Getting Coronavirus Vaccine

MASSACHUSETTS — More than 70 Massachusetts residents who have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus have died from COVID-19, according to public records obtained by the Boston Herald from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

In addition to the 71 people who have died from so-called "breakthrough cases," there have been 268 hospitalizations of fully-vaccinated people, the newspaper said. As of June 19, 3,907 Massachusetts residents tested positive for COVID-19 after getting the vaccination.

While alarming on the surface, the data actually show that vaccinations are working. The 3,907 vaccinated people who tested positive for the coronavirus after being fully vaccinated represent just 1.3 percent of the 297,753 confirmed cases since the state's first residents were vaccinated in January. Of the 5,057 reported COVID-19 deaths during the same time period, just 1.4 percent were attributed to breakthrough cases of the coronavirus.

"These numbers show the reason to get vaccinated," Todd Ellerin, director of infectious diseases at South Shore Health, told the newspaper. "It’s unbelievable actually. It’s mind-blowing."

For more on this story, see the Boston Herald.