Sacramento Mayor Steinberg was vaccinated and still got COVID. Here’s what he learned

I was thrilled to get my Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine on April 1. Like everyone, I was sick of having to settle for seeing people on Zoom. I missed the gatherings with friends, the celebrations and the performances that define Sacramento as a great place to live.

I was vaccinated as soon as I became eligible, and last month, I still caught COVID. I ran a fever, my chest was congested and I lost my sense of taste and smell. If the flu is a five, this was a seven. I could hardly get on a Zoom meeting, much less get out in the community.

My symptoms were moderate, but they were bad enough to drive home the possibility of how severe this illness could have been had I not been vaccinated. I am over 60, which puts me at additional risk. I am convinced that if I had not received my J&J shot, I would have wound up hospitalized.

Vaccines are our ticket out of this nightmare, a chance to get back to normal and resume the momentum we had as a city before the pandemic. Even more important, they can save thousands of lives.

A new report published by the U.S. Department of Public Health found that vaccinations prevented at least a quarter of a million COVID-19 infections, 107,000 hospitalizations and 39,000 deaths in the country’s population of seniors on Medicare between January and May of this year.

Just 55.7% of Sacramento County residents are fully vaccinated, a fact that has allowed the delta variant to infect people in large numbers. The overwhelming majority of new infections being reported each day are among the unvaccinated. The continued spread of the virus has caused needless death and suffering in our communities and tested the patience of our already weary health care workers.

Some of you may wonder why you should get vaccinated at all if you could still get infected with COVID like I did. No vaccine is perfect. Breakthrough infections like mine do happen, particularly when a virus changes, as COVID did with the delta variant. But health experts say you are far, far more likely to get infected if you aren’t vaccinated. Worse, you are much more likely to wind up in the hospital or die.

Just 6% of the 140,474 positive COVID tests in Sacramento County have been among people who were fully vaccinated, according to the county Department of Public Health. And only 52 vaccinated people have died, compared with 2,135 who were not vaccinated.

Americans who were not vaccinated this spring and summer were over 10 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 and 11 times more likely to die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

I write this column not because I have any particular desire to share my experience. I know my bout with COVID pales compared with those who have become gravely ill, many because they had no choice but to go to work serving the public. I write only with the hope that this will persuade at least one more person to get vaccinated.

If you aren’t convinced by my story, I would urge you to talk to your doctor or to a trusted leader in your community. If you would like to help your loved ones make informed choices about getting vaccinated, you can visit the Sacramento County COVID-19 Collaborative website to access online training and resources in different languages and targeted for your community.

Ten days after my diagnosis, I was back at City Hall. I was able to emerge from quarantine and attend the wedding of a dear friend and former colleague. I am grateful for all I have, and I’m most grateful for the science behind vaccines.