WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th August, 2021) One quarter of more than 40,000 COVID-19 infections were in fully vaccinated individuals during a 3-month period when the delta variant became dominant, according to a report published by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on Tuesday.
The data from individuals in Los Angeles County, California, was collected from May 1-July 25, 2021. From 6,752 samples subjected to genome sequencing, researchers estimated that prevalence of the delta variant rose from 8.6 percent of infections at the beginning of the period to 91.2 percent when the three month period ended, the report.
"Among 43,127 reported SARS-CoV-2 infections in Los Angeles County residents aged ��16 years, 10,895 (25.3%) were in fully vaccinated persons, 1,431 (3.3%) were in partially vaccinated persons, and 30,801 (71.4%) were in unvaccinated persons," the report said.
While the report appears to indicate that so-called breakthrough infections have become increasingly common with the delta variant, the report also reinforced earlier data showing COVID-19 vaccines offer substantial protection from severe infections, especially those requiring hospitalization.
Much lower percentages of fully vaccinated persons infected with SARS-CoV-2 were hospitalized (3.2%), were admitted to an intensive care unit (0.5%), and required mechanical ventilation (0.2%) compared with partially vaccinated persons (6.2%, 1.0%, and 0.3%, respectively) and unvaccinated persons (7.6%, 1.5%, and 0.5%, respectively), the report said.
The report concluded with a recommendation that efforts to increase COVID-19 vaccination coverage, in coordination with other prevention strategies, are critical in preventing COVID-19-related hospitalizations and deaths.
