Case Report: An immunocompromised, vaccine breakthrough COVID-19 patient with pneumonia

Abstract

Background: The novel SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has inflicted a major blow on public health worldwide accounting for millions of deaths and subsequent socio-economic consequences. The main challenge for scientists and researchers has been to restrain transmission of the virus and prevent severe respiratory disease. Novel promising vaccines aim to fulfil these expectations, although new variants of the coronavirus have emerged. The present manuscript aims to add to the knowledge, through a case of an immunodeficient patient, who developed remarkably favorable recovery from SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia after having been fully vaccinated against the novel coronavirus. Case presentation: An 82-year-old Caucasian male with a history of metastatic pancreatic cancer was admitted with signs and symptoms of pneumonia. Workup revealed a positive SARS-CoV-2 real time – polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and further investigation identified a B.1.1.7 variant. The imaging essays showed extensive lung disease. Interestingly, the patient had already received the second dose of the BNT162b2 (Pfizer) vaccine against the new coronavirus 16 days prior. After having been treated with appropriate antiviral and antibiotical agents the patient showed significantly favorable recovery and no need for high oxygen flows and no complications presented. The patient was discharged after six days of hospitalization in good condition, with no need for supplementary oxygen at home. Conclusions: Despite breakthrough cases, vaccination against COVID-19 is crucial for restraining the novel coronavirus. Further studies should be carried out in order to determine the optimal strategies for large-scale vaccination while minimizing the risk of further and faster evolution of the virus.

COVID-19 Pneumonia in Vaccinated Population: A Six Clinical and Radiological Case Series

“…For this reason, case 1 may have been infected by SARS-CoV-2 some days after the vaccination However, COVID-19 pneumonia has been rarely described in fully vaccinated patients and there are no yet ongoing clinical trials in these people categories. Surprisingly, so far, we have found only two described clinical cases [32,33].…”