Mass. reports 20,247 new breakthrough cases, raising total to 2.7 percent of all fully vaccinated people

A health care worker held up a vial of the Pfizer vaccine.Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff

Massachusetts on Tuesday reported 20,247 more COVID-19 cases among fully vaccinated people since last week, bringing the total since the beginning of the vaccination campaign to 134,565 cases, or 2.7 percent of all fully vaccinated people.

The Department of Public Health also reported 70 more COVID-19 deaths among fully vaccinated people, bringing the total to 854 deaths among those fully vaccinated. The number of breakthrough deaths represents a tiny fraction of all vaccinated people and underscores the protection the vaccines provide against severe illness and death.

The deaths accounted for 0.07 percent of the 5,065,160 people in Massachusetts who were fully vaccinated, the department said in its weekly update on breakthrough COVID-19 metrics, which included data reported through Saturday.

The department also reported 353 more hospitalizations among fully vaccinated people, for a total of 3,539 hospitalizations. That represents 0.07 percent of all fully vaccinated people.

Last week, the state reported 13,919 new cases, 85 more deaths, and 220 more hospitalizations among fully vaccinated people.

State officials and public health experts have repeatedly stressed that vaccination greatly reduces hospitalization, severe illness, and death as a result of COVID-19. They have encouraged booster shots for fully vaccinated people as a way to shore up protection from the virus amid data that show immunity from the vaccines wanes over time.

As of Tuesday, 5,071,253 people in Massachusetts have been fully vaccinated, according to the department.