[ad_1]
Among adult patients hospitalized with COVID-19 at Penn State Health on Monday, 78 of 92 were not fully vaccinated or their vaccination status was unknown, according to recently released figures.
Of the 78, 25 were in intensive care and 14 were on ventilators.
Of the 14 who are fully vaccinated, two were in intensive care and one was on a ventilator.
Three children were also hospitalized, none vaccinated and one in intensive care. No vaccinations have so far been approved for children under 12, so most young children are not vaccinated.
The numbers refer to patients hospitalized at a Penn State Health hospital – Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, St. Joseph Medical Center or Holy Spirit Medical Center – as of Monday.
Figures showing the vaccine status of hospitalized COVID-19 patients and the severity of their illness have become a topic of great interest.
On the one hand, they shed light on the quality and duration of the protection resulting from the COVID-19 vaccination, and whether it continues to protect against the new variants.
The numbers further shed light on COVID-19’s toll on unvaccinated people.
So far, doctors say people who are vaccinated are much less likely to get so sick that they need to be hospitalized or need intensive care or a ventilator.
Rather, they say COVID-19 has become a “disease of the unvaccinated,” with unvaccinated people making up the vast majority of people who are hospitalized, need intensive care, or die.
Pennsylvania officials are scheduled Tuesday afternoon to reveal more information about the level of so-called “breakthrough” infections among fully vaccinated people.
Doctors say most people who are vaccinated and test positive do not get seriously ill and recover quickly. Those who become seriously ill are likely to have a health problem such as an organ transplant that has weakened their immune system and prevented them from fully benefiting from the COVID-19 vaccine, doctors say.
Very old people also have weaker immune systems and may not get the full benefit from the vaccine.
The majority of Penn State Health’s COVID-19 hospital patients, 50 adults and three children, were at Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.
Of the 44 adults who were not vaccinated or whose status was unknown, 13 were in intensive care and nine were on a ventilator.
Of the six adults vaccinated, none were in intensive care or on a ventilator.
York-based WellSpan Health recently said that 117 of 127 COVID-19 patients hospitalized as of August 31 were not vaccinated. Of 23 in intensive care, all but one were unvaccinated, as were 15 of 16 patients on ventilators.
As of Wednesday, UPMC treated 400 COVID-19 hospital patients in its system, which covers much of Pennsylvania and includes a few hospitals in New York and Maryland. This included 102 COVID-19 patients in south-central Pennsylvania.
The UPMC did not provide statistics on their vaccination status, but said the “overwhelming majority” were not vaccinated.
Overall, COVID-19 has claimed the most lives among the elderly and those already suffering from serious illness.
However, doctors from Penn State Health and UPMC say people in hospital now tend to be younger and healthier before they get COVID-19. A UPMC doctor said last week that the average age of COVID-19 hospital patients has fallen by about a decade.
Read more about PennLive
COVID-19 in Pennsylvania: Hospitalizations exceed 2,200 as peak continues
Chances of death for COVID-19 patients “drop 5% every month,” UPMC doctors say
[ad_2]
Source link