Americans who are unvaccinated against COVID-19 are much more likely to infected or hospitalized with the virus, a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finds.
The report found that unvaccinated residents of Los Angeles had five times as many cases of Covid and 29 times as many hospitalizations than fully vaccinated people.
What’s more, if fully vaccinated people were hospitalized, they were much less likely to be admitted to intensive care units or placed on mechanical ventilation.
The CDC team says the findings show the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines, even as the Indian ‘Delta’ variant became the dominant strain in the U.S.
A new CDC study looked at more than 43,000 confirmed infections in Los Angeles between May 1 and July 25. Pictured: Nurse Kim Dimaunahan Telemetry Oncology (left) checks the blood sugar level of Covid positive patient Jorge Hernandez, 64, inside Little Company of Mary Medical Center in Torrance, California, July 30
COVID-19 incidence rate was 315.1 per 100,000 people for unvaccinated people compared to 63.8 per 100,000 for the vaccinated – a 4.9-fold difference (left). Hospitalization rates among the unvaccinated were 29.2 times more than those in fully vaccinated people at 29.4 per 100,000 versus 1.0 per 100,000 (right)
For the report published on Tuesday. the CDC team looked at data from May 1, 2021 to July 25, 2021 in Los Angeles County.
Of 43,127 confirmed COVID-19 infections, 71.4 percent, or 30,801 were among unvaccinated individuals.
A total of 3.3 percent, or 1,431, were among partially vaccinated people and 25.3 percent, were in fully vaccinated residents.
After adjusting for age, the researchers found that the COVID-19 incidence rate was 315.1 per 100,000 people for the unvaccinated compared to 63.8 per 100,000 for the vaccinated – a 4.9-fold difference.
When it came to hospitalizations, 3.2 percent of fully vaccinated people – 350 – were admitted compared to 7.6 percent – 2,355 – unvaccinated people.
Once hospitalized, fully vaccinated patients were much less likely to be admitted to intensive care units or require mechanical ventilation at 0.5 percent or 0.2 percent, respectively.
By comparison, 1.5 percent of unvaccinated patients needed to be admitted to the ICU and 0.5 percent needed mechanical ventilation.
The researchers determined that hospitalization rates among the unvaccinated were 29.2 times more than those in fully vaccinated people at 29.4 per 100,000 versus 1.0 per 100,000.
What’s more, 0.2 percent, or 24, vaccinated patients died of COVID-19 compared to 0.6 percent, or 176, of those without their shots.
The researchers note the rates of incidence and hospitalization among the unvaccinated may be higher because, over the course of the study period, the Indian ‘Delta’ variant became the dominant strain in the U.S.
CDC data show the highly transmissible strain and its sub-lineages now make up nearly all cases in the country.
‘The results of this…analysis…indicate that fully vaccinated persons aged with SARS-CoV-2 infection were less likely than unvaccinated persons to be hospitalized, to be admitted to an intensive care unit, to require mechanical ventilation, or to die from SARS-CoV-2 infection during a period when the Delta variant became predominant,’ the authors wrote.
‘These data indicate that authorized vaccines protect against SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe COVID-19, even with increased community transmission of the newly predominant Delta variant.
‘Efforts to enhance COVID-19 vaccination coverage, in coordination with other prevention strategies, are critical to preventing COVID-19–related hospitalizations and death.’
