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Most of the inmates infected during a COVID-19 Delta variant outbreak in a Texas prison were fully vaccinated, but hospitalizations and deaths were higher among the unvaccinated, according to a new report.
Of 172 prisoners who contracted the virus, 75% received one of the three vaccines approved in the United States, from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson.
However, inmates who had not received their vaccines were up to three times more likely to be hospitalized or die from Covid, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The authors say the results show how highly transmissible the Delta variant is, but the vaccines still protect recipients from the most serious consequences of the virus.
A new CDC report looked at a Delta variant outbreak in the summer of 2021 at a Texas prison that saw 172 prisoners infected with COVID-19, 75% of whom were fully vaccinated. Pictured: Prisoners at the Bolivar County Correctional Facility in Cleveland, Mississippi, receive COVID-19 vaccines, April 2021
Four patients – three of whom were unvaccinated – had to be hospitalized and one unvaccinated patient died. Pictured: Most prisoners developed symptoms of Covid six days and 14 days before testing positive
The COVID-19 pandemic has been particularly difficult for inmates in prisons and prisons.
Many correctional facilities are overcrowded or have common areas where social distancing cannot be practiced.
There are often insufficient amounts of soap in the bathroom for inmates to wash their hands and a lack of access to cleaning products such as hand sanitizer and wipes.
As states ramped up testing as the pandemic dragged on, it became clearer just how widespread the problem is.
The new report, released by the CDC on Friday, shows how quickly the virus – and in particular the highly transmissible Delta variant – can spread in prison, but also how vaccines protect people from the most severe effects of the disease.
According to the report, the outbreak occurred in the summer of 2021 in two dwellings in a federal prison in Texas.
The first cases were detected on July 12 when 18 prisoners, 11 of whom had been fully vaccinated, tested positive for the virus via rapid antigen tests.
The prisoners lived in two interconnected units that housed 233 men living in cells of two to ten people.
All 233 inmates were tested between July 12, 2021 and August 14, 2021 and 172 were finally confirmed to be carriers of the virus.
Genome sequencing of 58 specimens revealed that the outbreak was caused by the Delta variant.
Of the infected prisoners, 129 – or 75 percent – were fully immunized. The remaining 43 cases were among the partially vaccinated or unvaccinated.
A total of 66% of fully vaccinated prisoners who caught the virus had received the Pfizer vaccine, 27% had received the Moderna vaccine, and 10% had received the J&J vaccine.
Fifty percent of the vaccinated prisoners who became ill had been vaccinated between four and six months before the outbreak, suggesting a decrease in effectiveness.
However, attack rates were higher among unvaccinated inmates, with 129 of 185 vaccinated inmates becoming ill compared to 39 of 42 unvaccinated inmates.
This suggests an attack rate of 70 percent among those who have been vaccinated and an attack rate of 93 percent for those who have not received their vaccines.
Among the infected inmates, four were hospitalized, including three unvaccinated patients and one fully vaccinated patient, showing a three times higher hospitalization rate for unvaccinated people.
In addition, only one unvaccinated patient required mechanical intubation and died.
“This study demonstrates the potential for outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2 Delta variants in collective settings, including correctional and detention facilities, even among resident populations with high vaccine coverage,” the authors wrote.
“In this epidemic … there have been fewer hospitalizations and deaths among vaccinated people than among unvaccinated people, stressing that vaccination is an important strategy to reduce serious illness and death from COVID-19 in places of assembly. ”
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