New CDC figures: How many fully vaccinated people received the delta variant?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released new data that has shown how well COVID-19 vaccines protect people against the coronavirus, especially the delta variant.

How many vaccinated people have recently contracted COVID-19?

The study looked at how COVID-19 spread from April 4 to July 17, when the delta variant becomes prominent in 13 states in the United States

• Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Los Angeles County (California), Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York (New York), North Carolina, Seattle / King County (Washington) and Utah.

Here’s a breakdown of the COVID-19 numbers for those states:

• Not fully vaccinated: 569,142 (92%) cases of COVID-19, 34,972 (92%) hospitalizations and 6,132 (91%) deaths associated with COVID-19.
• Vaccinated people: 46,312 (8%) cases, 2,976 (8%) hospitalizations and 616 (9%) deaths.

The study indicated that during the specific period from April 4 to June 19, fully vaccinated people accounted for 5% of total COVID-19 cases, 7% of COVID-19 hospitalizations and 8% of deaths overall.

• Those percentages were highest from June 20 to July 17, when fully vaccinated people accounted for 18% of cases, 14% of hospitalizations and 16% of deaths, according to the CDC.

Does this mean the vaccine is working?

It is roughly in line with expectations. According to the CDC, the 13 jurisdictions had a vaccination rate of 37%. So the CDC expected that fully vaccinated people would account for 6% of cases (which is close to the 5% seen) when the vaccine’s effectiveness is 90%.

• However, from June 20 to July 17, the CDC expected fully vaccinated people to account for 10% of cases, not 18%. The figure of 18% would have been expected if the efficacy of the vaccine was 80%.

The CDC said the new study suggests people not fully vaccinated had five times the risk of infection, 10 times the risk of hospitalization and more than 10 times the risk of death from COVID-19.

Earlier this week, the CDC said there were 12,908 severe breakthrough cases of COVID-19 among fully vaccinated people, which resulted in hospitalization or death, according to CNN. Of course, 173 million people in the United States have been fully vaccinated against the novel coronavirus.

• According to CNN, these numbers suggest that you have about a 1 in 13,000 chance of having a serious outbreak of COVID-19 when you are fully immunized.