According to a Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study published on Tuesday, people who are not vaccinated against COVID-19 are 29 times more likely to be hospitalized than those fully vaccinated.
Based on a study of 43,127 people in Los Angeles County, California, who were infected with COVID-19 between May 1, 2021, to July 25, 2021, 10,895 (25.3%) were fully vaccinated 1,431 (3.3%) were partially vaccinated, and 30,801 (71.4%) were in those unvaccinated.
"Persons were considered fully vaccinated ≥14 days after receipt of the second dose in a 2-dose series (Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines) or after 1 dose of the single-dose Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) COVID-19 vaccine; partially vaccinated ≥14 days after receipt of the first dose and <14 days after the second dose in a 2-dose series; and unvaccinated <14 days after receipt of the first dose of a 2-dose series or 1 dose of the single-dose vaccine or if no CAIR2 vaccination data were available." the study is quoted as saying.
Unvaccinated patients were hospitalized at a rate of 29.2 to the 4.9% of hospitalized vaccinated patients.
While the CDC study followed other reports of the success of vaccinations, there were limitations in the study. For example, laboratory data of those infected but were vaccinated outside of California was not available, making their vaccination status misclassified. The Delta variant became the most predominant strain to infect people, vaccinated and unvaccinated alike.
Currently, 51.5% of Americans are fully vaccinated, and 60.3% have received at least one dose. The CDC study comes a day after the Food and Drug Administration fully approves the Pfizer vaccination.