Post-acute COVID-19 syndrome after reinfection and vaccine breakthrough by the SARS-CoV-2 Gamma variant in Brazil
Stephanie Lema Suarez Penetra, Michele Fernanda Borges da Silva, Paola Cristina Resende, Anielle de Pina-Costa, Heloísa Ferreira Pinto Santos, Lusiele Guaraldo, Guilherme Amaral Calvet, Maria Ogrzewalska, Ighor Arantes, Ketiuce de Azevedo Zukeram, Mia Ferreira de Araújo, Ana Beatriz Machado Lima, Renata Serrano Lopes, Larissa R. Lira-Silva, Isabella V. Moraes, Mayumi Duarte Wakimoto, Trevon Fuller, Claudia Raja Gabaglia, Otávio de Melo Espíndola, Myrna C. Bonaldo, Cláudio Tadeu Daniel‐Ribeiro, Jimmy Whitworth, Chris Smith, Karin Nielsen‐Saines, Alex Pauvolid‐Corrêa, Marilda Mendonça Siqueira, Patrícia Brasil
Abstract
We describe a case of prolonged COVID-19 caused by the SARS-CoV-2 Gamma variant in a fully vaccinated healthcare worker, 387 days after an infection caused by lineage B.1.1.33. Infections were confirmed by whole-genome sequencing and corroborated by the detection of neutralizing antibodies in convalescent serum samples. Considering the permanent exposure of this healthcare worker to SARS-CoV-2, the waning immunity after the first infection, the low efficacy of the inactivated vaccine at preventing COVID-19, the immune escape of the Gamma variant (VOC), and the burden of post-COVID syndrome, this individual would have benefited from an additional dose of a heterologous vaccine.