A doctor based in the United States shared X-ray images of the lungs of two COVID-19 patients, one who was vaccinated against the virus and one who was not, indicating a significant difference in infections.
When examining the two images, the ICU director at the Saint Louis University Hospital (SSM) in the US state of Missouri Dr. Ghassan Kamel said that the white in the lungs indicated the virus which can constitute secretions, mucus, or bacteria.
Like many, Kamel is still waiting to get his vaccine shot, online news media KSDK reported on Tuesday. He said that he has noticed the benefits reaped by those who were infected with COVID-19 but had been vaccinated.
Most of his patients have not been inoculated yet. He noted that the patients he has been treating recently are younger than the ones he used to deal with back in December.
“We are seeing very sick patients,” Kamel told KSDK.
“They definitely at least would require oxygen and sometimes they would require more than just oxygen. They might require the ventilator or get intubated on mechanical ventilation, sedated, and basically on life support,” he said, in reference to the X-ray image of the unvaccinated individual’s lungs.
When the doctor spoke about the vaccinated X-ray, he pointed out that it had less white, indicating lungs that are full of air.
“This vaccinated X-ray is a breakthrough case, a rare occurrence,” he said. “Less than 1 percent of vaccinated people get COVID.”
He added that vaccinated people who get infected often don’t need to be hospitalized and that if they do, most cases will not require life support or ICU admission, he said, adding that the exceptions included those who had pre-existing conditions or were immunocompromised.
“If you don’t like the mask, you definitely won’t like the ventilator,” he said.
The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday reported that vaccinated individuals can spread COVID-19 just as easily as unvaccinated people.