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Valley man tests positive for COVID-19 months after becoming fully vaccinated

Andrew Rascon
Posted at 9:53 PM, Apr 23, 2021
and last updated 2021-04-24 18:31:16-04

A Valley man is battling COVID-19 months after becoming fully vaccinated.

On Tuesday, Andrew Rascon was in shock when his COVID-19 rapid test came back positive.

"Right then I was like 'Oh no,'" said Rascon, who was tested at an urgent care clinic in Phoenix.

Rascon has been fully vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine since February. About a week ago, he started showing COVID-like symptoms such as a headache, body aches, and the loss of taste and smell.

"There was a point when I was at my lowest a few nights ago. I was scared. I truly was scared," said Rascon. "I was feeling things in my body that I had never felt before."

Rascon is a contributor to the "breakthrough rate," the term used by the CDC and health professionals to describe people who have received the COVID-19 vaccine, yet still test positive for the virus.

"No one ever said it was 100%, there’s actually nothing in medicine is 100%," said Dr. Ross Goldberg, immediate past president of the American Medical Association. "If you do get exposed, to blunt that effect. And to not make it as severe. To reduce your risk of hospitalization, reduce your risk of dying."

In Arizona, only 778 people have tested positive for COVID-19 out of the more than 2 million people who are fully vaccinated with zero deaths. In the U.S. about 7,100 people have contracted COVID-19 out of the more than 87 million who are fully vaccinated.

"‘The numbers are small, but obviously when it happens to someone that’s an issue," said Dr. Goldberg. " It’s about mitigating it, and reducing the risk as much as possible."

Rascon, 34, who works in the medical profession, still advocates that people receive their COVID-19 vaccine, and says this experience battling the symptoms has taught him a valuable life lesson.

"Life is so short and unfortunately I have seen some people and friends that have lost their lives to COVID. It just really makes you think and it really makes you just want to live a little bit more," said Rascon.