Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 incidence and hospitalization rates are consistently higher for unvaccinated people, and rates are lowest for those fully vaccinated with a COVID booster, according to research published in the Feb. 1 early-release issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
The U.S. has reached a 64% vaccination rate for the entire population. However, only 42% of those eligible for a booster have gotten the extra shot, which has left experts pondering how to get more Americans boosted.
One thing that may lead more people to consider the extra shot is new data that shows its effectiveness.
Fully vaccinated Americans are 14 times less likely to die of COVID-19 than those who haven’t gotten the shots. Boosted Americans are 97 times less likely.
Booster shots also increase protection against hospitalization from 69% to 88% and from 82% to 97%, according to multiple studies. Meanwhile, unvaccinated adults were 23 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID during the Omicron wave than adults who were vaccinated and boosted, according to data from LA County. Although Omicron has created a record high number of ICU admissions, the length of their hospital stay was lower during Omicron than previous peaks due to the 210 million Americans that are fully vaccinated.
Those figures were presented Wednesday by Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based on reports from 25 jurisdictions in the week ending Dec. 4. For every 100,000 people, 9.7 of those who were unvaccinated were killed by the coronavirus, compared to 0.7 of those fully vaccinated and 0.1 of the boosted.
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Dr. Peter Hotez, a vaccine expert at the Baylor College of Medicine, estimates that in the second half of last year, 200,000 Americans lost their lives because they refused COVID vaccines. “Three doses of either Pfizer or Moderna will save your life,” Hotez shares. “It’s the only way you can be reasonably assured that you will survive a COVID-19 infection.”
This data shows that although vaccination without a booster provides a lot of protection, boosters take that protection to a different level.
Dr. Walensky says more recent information during the Omicron wave further underscores the value of getting boosted.
“The data are really stunningly obvious why a booster is really very important,” Dr. Anthony Fauci says.
Vaccines are great, but they have a weakness: their gradual fading of effectiveness over time. Although you are considered “fully vaccinated”
if you have received two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna booster or one shot of the Johnson and Johnson booster; the truth is you are “partially vaccinated.”
After getting a booster, your risk of getting severely ill from COVID is particularly small, even if you are older or have health problems.
In fact, the chance that an average American will die in a car crash this week (about 2.4 per million) or influenza and pneumonia (about three per million) is significantly higher, according to the New York Times.
For most people, COVID resembles other respiratory illnesses that have been around for years. However, in others, such as the elderly and immunocompromised; it can still be extremely debilitating. The Omicron surge has subjected tens of millions of Americans to a flu all at once, The New York Times reports.
For the unvaccinated, COVID can be many times worse than the flu.
At a briefing conducted by the White House COVID-19 response team, Dr. Walensky and Dr. Fauci confirmed that the Omicron surge is waning. New infections nationwide are down 36% to a daily average of 446,000 compared to the previous week, and hospitalizations have dropped 14% to 17,100. Despite the decline, the numbers are still stunningly high with deaths rising 4% to 2,300 a day.
“With the mixed news above, similar to other waves throughout the pandemic, our data continue to reinforce the critical importance of vaccination,’’ Walensky adds.
The importance is also significant for women who are pregnant or couples who may want to conceive in the future. Dr. Fauci highlighted two recent studies that showed vaccination had no impact on fertility.
“New data adds to previous studies that indicate the COVID-19 vaccination does not negatively impact fertility,’’ Dr. Fauci says. “And of course, as we’ve all said over and over again, vaccination is recommended for people who are trying to get pregnant now or might become pregnant in the future, as well as their partners.’’
For many who are already parents, news that their children under age 5 may become eligible for the vaccine by the end of this month could relieve concerns about their exposure to the virus.
RELATED: Pfizer Asks FDA to Approve Its Vaccine for Children Under 5
About 18 million children under 5, would qualify once the Food and Drug Administration and the CDC give their OK, according to response team coordinator Jeff Zientsadding. The administration is already working on distribution plans for the low-dose vaccine.
“We’ll be ready to start getting shots in arms soon after FDA and CDC make their decisions,’’ Zientsadding shares.
According to the CDC, you can expect the following during and after getting a booster shot:
For more information on booster shots, visit the CDC.
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