Recent reports of vaccinated people being diagnosed with COVID-19 have caused alarm in places like Michigan, where a recent headline blared: “246 vaccinated residents diagnosed with COVID; 3 dead.” Breakthrough infections—cases where the coronavirus takes hold in a fully inoculated person—will always raise worries about whether the vaccines are actually working. And more than 200 incidents in a place where the variants are surging? Yikes.

These stories have been popping up a lot lately on social media. Yet the numbers released so far actually suggest the vaccines are working better than we might expect.

WNYC Host Michael and Health and Science editor Dr. Nsikan Akpan break down the math and outline who might be more likely to experience one of these rare events.

Click "Listen" in the player, and head to Gothamist for the full story.