Americans who are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 are more likely to be hospitalized or die, according to the nation’s top infectious diseases expert.
During a White House COVID-19 Response Team press briefing on Friday (above), Dr. Anthony Fauci shared COVID-19 data from King County in Washington state comparing not fully vaccinated people to fully vaccinated people over the last 30 days. (Photo by: White House)
Dr. Anthony Fauci shared data on virus outcomes by vaccination status from Public Health – Seattle & King County in Washington state during a White House COVID-19 Response Team press briefing on Friday. Individuals who had not started or completed their vaccine series were eight times more likely to test positive for COVID-19, according to the data.
Contracting the COVID-19
The King County Residents who were fully vaccinated were compared to those who were ‘not fully vaccinated,’ which included the unvaccinated, those who had just begun their vaccine series, and those who had completed vaccination within the previous 14 days. Over the last 30 days, 11,868 people who had not been fully vaccinated tested positive for Covid, compared to 5,640 fully vaccinated residents.
The daily case rate for fully vaccinated people was 10.7 new cases per 100,000, compared to 82.4 for those who were not fully vaccinated. This means that people who had not received all of their vaccines were 7.7 times more likely to contract the virus.
When it came to hospitalizations and deaths, the risk was even higher among those who were not fully vaccinated. Over the last month, 543 residents who were not fully vaccinated were hospitalized at a rate of 8.72 per 100,000 people per day.
In comparison, 131 people who finished their immunization series were hospitalized at a daily rate of 0.21 per 100,000 per day, implying that the fully vaccinated were 41.4 times less likely to require inpatient care. During the same time period, 90 people who were not fully vaccinated died, while 26 people who were fully vaccinated died. With a daily case rate of 2.28 deaths per 100,000 for those who have not been fully vaccinated compared to 0.04 per 100,000 for those who have been fully vaccinated, those who have not started or completed their vaccine series are 56.7 times more likely to die of Covid.
Delta Variant Doubles the Risk of COVID-19 Hospitalizations
According to a report released last week by the state Department of Health, as of September 11, all virus samples that underwent genetic sequencing were confirmed to be Delta, implying that the variant is responsible for 100 percent of all infections.
The variant is twice as contagious as previous dominant strains, including the Alpha variant, which was discovered in the United Kingdom.
Dr. Umair Shah said last month “We are extremely concerned by this increased spike in cases, which is being driven by the delta variant and spreading like wildfire among men, women, and children,”
“Vaccination is the most effective tool we have in this pandemic, but we also recommend that people mask indoors and avoid large, crowded settings, whether they are vaccinated or not.”
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