Despite the known effectiveness of U.S.-sanctioned COVID-19 vaccines, some fully vaccinated individuals will still become infected. But their unvaccinated, infected peers are far more likely to be hospitalized with the disease, new federal data show.
Investigators looked at data on SARS-CoV-2 infections in more than 43,000 residents of Los Angeles County, CA, aged 16 years and older. Between May 1 and July 25, infection rates among the unvaccinated were five times those of their fully vaccinated peers. Unvaccinated individuals accounted for 71% of infections, while their fully vaccinated peers accounted for 25%, reported epidemiologist Jennifer B. Griffin, Ph.D., and colleagues.
The contrast between hospitalization rates in these groups was even more pronounced. On July 25, hospitalization rates of the unvaccinated were 30 times that of the vaccinated, the investigators found.
During a period when the highly contagious delta variant was predominant, vaccinated individuals were also less likely to be hospitalized, admitted to an intensive care unit or to require mechanical ventilation, Griffin, of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, added.
“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,” the authors concluded.
Study results were posted on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report webpage.
