Red Bank resident Mark Gregory says that he has been vaccinated against COVID-19 since March, yet still contracted the virus.

Gregory’s two young daughters are too young to get the vaccine and are now sick with COVID-19 as well. The family is quarantining. Gregory says that his daughters have minimal to no symptoms. But he says that the state and some walk-in clinics could do more to tackle the situation.

“It’s frustrating when you did everything right, but you still got it. But it is what it is,” he says.

Gregory says that he does not know from where he contracted the virus.

“Everything hurt. My skin hurt. It was very uncomfortable, very tired. The coughing fits were what was the most dangerous part,” he says. My feeling is, if I wasn’t vaccinated, I would probably be on a ventilator or worse.”

After feeling the symptoms, Gregory says that he went to a walk-in clinic for a COVID-19 test. But he says that they initially did not want to give him the test. After the test, he says that he received a call from the state Health Department.

“And they reiterated what the doctors said, that breakthrough cases are so rare that they’re not pushing to test people that are. If you’re vaccinated, you’re not tested. At least that’s what it was at the time. I think that’s a mistake,” Gregory says.

New Jersey only contact traces COVID-19 cases among the vaccinated if the patient was hospitalized. Gregory, who was not hospitalized, says that this should change to bring about more answers to the rare cases. He and his wife – who tested negative for the virus – say that they are even more careful than they were before.

“With this new delta variant, it seems to be so contagious that we’re actually acting and treating it as if we’re not vaccinated,” Gregory says.

Neither Gregory, nor his wife has any underlying health conditions. Neither has had COVID-19 before.