(Reuters) – From May through July 2021, as the Delta variant spread, 43,127 residents of Los Angeles County in California were diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infections – and one in four had been fully vaccinated, public health officials reported in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Vaccinated patients had lower rates of hospitalization (3.2% versus 7.6%), intensive care (0.5% versus 1.5%) and need for machines to help with breathing (0.2% versus 0.5%) than unvaccinated patients, the report said.
During the study period, the prevalence of the Delta variant rose from less than 9% to at least 87%, the authors note.
As of July 25, hospitalization rates were 29 times higher for unvaccinated patients, they estimated, “indicating that COVID-19 vaccination protects against severe COVID-19 in areas with increasing prevalence of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant.”
SOURCE: https://bit.ly/2XWWZIx MMWR, online August 24, 2021.
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