The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released three studies on Friday. One of them said that an unvaccinated person would catch the COVID-19 Delta variant five times more likely than those vaccinated. Further, an unvaccinated person who contracts the Delta variant will be 11 times more likely to die from it because of the severe effects of the variant.
The CDC said that the vaccinated population is 10 times less likely to be hospitalized for the COVID-19 Delta variant. The new data by the CDC became available after President Joe Biden announced sweeping vaccine mandates throughout the country.
As of writing, around 80 million Americans remain eligible for vaccination but they have not availed of it yet. Vaccines are free and are readily available throughout the United States. The refusal or unwillingness of the unvaccinated population to get vaccinated remains an issue despite the increase in COVID-19 cases because of the Delta variant. The Delta variant started to spread like wildfire since June.
The average number of new cases in the United States every day is 150,000, hospitalizations are at 100,000 daily, and deaths are 1,500 daily.
The new data published by the CDC shows that although the Delta variant’s transmission rate is higher than any other COVID-19 variant, vaccines remain effective against it. Although the efficacy rate of the vaccines dropped when it comes to dealing with the Delta variant, it is still potent protection because it decreases the chance of getting hospitalized, experiencing severe effects, or death.
The study showed that vaccine protection dropped from 91 percent to 78 percent with Delta, protection against hospitalization dropped from 92 to 90, and protection from death dropped from 94 to 91 percent.
The CDC based the findings on available data, including more than 600,000 adults with COVID-19 from April to July. The researchers then calculated age-standardized ratios of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths between the vaccinated and unvaccinated population.
Aside from the vaccine mandates by the Biden administration, they also announced they are preparing to offer booster doses for those eligible. The Food and Drug Administration is yet to permit the booster shots pending research and data.
