People who are not vaccinated against COVID-19 are 11 times more likely to die from coronavirus and 10 times more likely to be hospitalized, says a study by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Dr Rochelle Walensky, CDC Director, said the bottom line is that scientific tools are available to tackle the pandemic. “Vaccination works and will protect us from the severe complications of COVID-19.” Walensky said those who were unvaccinated were about four and a half times more likely to get COVID-19.
Scientists expected fully vaccinated people to make up some 10% of cases from late June through July, if the shots retained peak effectiveness at preventing any infection. Instead, vaccinated persons accounted for 18% of observed cases, a finding the study’s authors said were consistent with a potential decline in vaccine protection against confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Other studies have showed evidence that vaccine effectiveness is waning over time, particularly for elderly adults. The data supports experts’ recommendations that most people in the USA receive booster shots for mRNA vaccines, which are expected to become available beginning September 20 for many who were fully vaccinated at least eight months prior. The studies reported that their findings of declining effectiveness against hospitalization had not been previously observed in their cohorts.
The CDC Study found the Moderna vaccine to be the most effective in reducing hospitalization. Among all ages, the Moderna vaccine had a 95% effectiveness, while the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine had an 80% effectiveness and the Johnson & Johnson had a 60% effectiveness. The vaccine effectiveness was lower among those aged 75 and older, which had not been observed previously in the sample network. The study found vaccine effectiveness overall to be 89% among adults under the age of 75, but 76% among those aged 75 and older.
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The Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, Dr Anthony Fauci believes suppressing the virus is the endgame to the pandemic. “Ideally, the US would get cases as low as possible, but a reasonable goal would be to get below 10,000 a day,” he said. “The one thing we do know for sure is 160,000 cases a day is not where we want to be. Unfortunately, that is where we are right now.”
US President Joe Biden, on Thursday, had outlined a plan that imposes stringent new vaccine rules on federal workers, large employers and healthcare staff requirements that could apply to as many as 100 million Americans.
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