Vaccinated White House official infected with Covid-19, has mild symptoms

A fully vaccinated White House official tested positive for Covid-19 off site and has mild symptoms but was not found to have had close contacts with White House principals or staff, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Tuesday.

The official remains off White House grounds pending additional testing for confirmation, she said.

She said the White House medical unit had conducted contact tracing and interviews, finding no close contact among staff and President Joe Biden.

Psaki also said there had been other instances of vaccinated employees testing positive, though they were not commissioned officers and therefore were not reported by the administration.

"We committed that we would release information proactively if it is commissioned officers," she said. Commissioned officers work for the president and not for another White House official.

Asked whether the administration fears that these breakthrough cases will spur more vaccine hesitancy among Americans, Psaki said she hasn't seen any data to indicate this trend.

"We know that there will be breakthrough cases, but as this instance shows, cases in vaccinated individuals are typically mild," she said. "This is another reminder of the efficacy of the Covid-19 vaccines against severe illness or hospitalizations," she added.