The spread of the COVID-19 delta variant has led to a summer spike in deaths among older U.S. adults, and the least vaccinated states have fared much worse than others, new data show.
Investigators from the Kaiser Family Foundation examined the relationship between vaccination rates and mortality among adults aged 65 and older during the delta surge from July 1 through Sept. 25.
Not surprisingly, the resulting analysis showed higher death rates in older residents of states with lower vaccination rates. In Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia and Nevada, which had the lowest vaccine coverage, mortality was higher than the national average, and the combined death rate was nearly 2 times the national average, Tricia Neuman, the foundation’s senior vice president, reported.
In comparison, states with the highest vaccination rates — Wisconsin, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico and Massachusetts — have fared better as the delta variant has spread, Neuman added.
“In Massachusetts, where 88.8% of older adults have been vaccinated, the death rate was 28 per 100,000 adults 65 and older, a rate about 7 times lower than that of Arkansas during the study period,” she and her colleagues reported. The disparities account for a large number of unnecessary deaths, they proposed.
62% fewer deaths
“Had the death rate in the 10 least vaccinated states been the same as the death rate in the 10 most vaccinated states, there would have been 7,623 fewer deaths among older adults during this period in these 10 states,” they wrote in their analysis. That’s 62% fewer deaths than the 12,363 total that actually occurred.
Aside from vaccination rates, the other key factors in the number of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths during the delta surge include decreasing vaccine effectiveness, and variations in state and local mitigation strategies to manage a rise in infections, the investigators said.
Despite signs of a decline in cases overall, some locations that got hit with delta later may still be at risk of a surge, they added. Vaccine booster shots are currently a wildcard in this process, they said.
“With the rollout of boosters for adults 65 and older, we will soon learn whether and when we will see a reversal of these troubling trends for older adults,” they concluded.
Another KFF report tracked a 400% resurgence in U.S. nursing home deaths this summer, McKnight’s Long-Term Care News has reported.
