phenomenon called "vaccine breakthrough" infections that break through the vaccine's protection incomplete protection occurs to some extent with a vaccine against any disease The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has so far received reports of about 5,800 breakthrough cases numbers gathered so far are in line with what's expected No "unexpected patterns have been identified in case demographics or vaccine characteristics," the CDC says Have been reported among people of all ages with a little more than 40% among people age 60 or older 65% of such cases have been women 29% of those experiencing breakthrough infections experienced no symptoms 7% were hospitalized 74 people died