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Fully vaccinated people who got COVID-19 describe their mild symptoms, and their relief that they’d gotten a shot

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Karlee Camme, 24, was not sick enough to suspect she had COVID-19 after getting fully vaccinated. She got tested when she lost her sense of smell.

A patient receives an injection of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
A patient receives an injection of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. Photo: Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images

By Andrea Michelson and Mia de Graaf

Karlee Camme was supposed to see her grandparents for the first time in more than a year. Everyone was fully vaccinated and ready to go, but two days before the visit she lost her ability to taste and smell.

Camme, 24, had gotten the Johnson & Johnson vaccine a month prior. But it turns out she had a mild case of COVID-19.

Looking back, she realized the runny nose and heavy tiredness she’d experienced earlier in the week might have been early symptoms. It was only the loss of taste and smell that signaled it was anything more than a common cold, leading Camme to get a COVID-19 test.

The COVID-19 vaccines have been extremely successful at preventing serious illnesses that could lead to hospitalizations and deaths. But no vaccine is 100% effective at preventing infection, Dr. Lisa V. Adams, an associate dean for global health at Dartmouth College, told Insider.

“We know there are and will be some breakthrough infections in individuals who are…

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