People who have not received a full vaccination are 11 times more likely to die from COVID-19

People who are not fully vaccinated this spring and summer (in the northern hemisphere) are 10 times more likely to be hospitalized and 11 times more likely to die from covid-19 than those who are fully vaccinated, according to one of the three large studies published Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) highlighting the continued effectiveness of all three vaccines amid the spread of the highly contagious delta variant.

A second study showed that Modern coronavirus vaccine was moderately more effective at preventing hospitalizations than its counterparts at Pfizer-BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson. This assessment was based on the largest US study to date on the true effectiveness of the three vaccines, involving approximately 32,000 patients seen in hospitals, emergency departments, and emergency care clinics in nine states since June. until early August.

While the three vaccines were collectively 86 percent effective in preventing hospitalization, protection was significantly higher in Moderna vaccine recipients (95 percent) than in those who received Pfizer-BioNTech (80 percent) or Johnson & Johnson (60 percent). This finding echoes a smaller study conducted by the Mayo Clinic Health System in August, not yet peer reviewed, which also showed that the Moderna vaccine is more effective than Pfizer-BioNTech at preventing infections during the delta wave. .

By examining the effectiveness of all vaccines against serious illness and death, public health officials continued to urge people to get any vaccine available, rather than shopping around and delaying inoculation.

“The bottom line is this: We have the scientific tools we need to reverse this pandemic,” CDC director Rochelle Walensky said on Friday during a COVID-19 briefing at the White House. “Vaccination works and will protect us from the serious complications of COVID-19. “

The trio of reports come as President Biden on Thursday announced broad coronavirus vaccination mandates to curb the rising delta variant, which is expected to increase pressure on the tens of millions of Americans who have resisted vaccines. The virus has killed more than 650,000 people in the United States with an average of 1,500 deaths per day over the past eight days, a number not seen since early March, according to data analyzed by The Washington Post.

CDC studies offer some clarity at confusing time of pandemic amid concerns over diminished immunity and vaccine protection against a more contagious variant. The data broadly agree with the results of other studies: Vaccines continue to provide strong protection to most people against hospitalization and death, even during this delta surge, but they are less effective in protecting adults in older age groups, especially those with underlying health problems. problems.

The the highly transmissible delta variant now accounts for over 99% of new coronavirus infections, estimate the CDC. The fear of diminishing protection against serious illness is the reason why the administration hopes to put in place reinforcements as soon as the health authorities give the green light. Pfizer on track to be the first brand approved as a booster by the Food and Drug Administration since the company presented data on the safety and effectiveness of boostering its own two-shot regimen with a third injection of the same vaccine. Approval of other vaccines is expected to follow in the coming months.

In the CDC report that looked at the effectiveness of vaccines by brand, researchers looked at how well vaccines protect against serious disease. They measured the effectiveness in relation to hospitalization and, separately, in relation to trips to the emergency room or to emergency care. The overall effectiveness in preventing trips to the emergency department or emergency care was 82 percent. Efficiency was highest among Moderna beneficiaries (92%), followed by Pfizer (77%), then Johnson & Johnson (65%).

The CDC report does not explain why Moderna could offer greater benefits. One possibility is that Moderna’s mRNA dose is three times that of Pfizer-BioNTech. The interval between injections is also longer: four weeks for Moderna instead of three weeks for Pfizer-BioNTech. Some research has shown that longer intervals between injections, including much longer periods, beyond four weeks, may be beneficial in boosting immunity.

But the researchers found a decrease in effectiveness against hospitalizations in adults aged 75 and older, and suggested that the decrease could be due to a decrease in immunity and the impact of a more contagious variant. . Although the report notes that “this moderate decrease should be interpreted with caution and could be linked to changes in the virus that causes covid-19, weakening vaccine-induced immunity over time. has occurred since vaccination, or a combination of factors ”.

However, all three vaccines showed strong and continued protection for all adults – over 82% – for hospitalization, the emergency room, and travel for emergency care.

“It’s really cool to be 82% efficient at the delta time.”, four to six months after many people were vaccinated, said Eddie Stenehjem, one of the authors and infectious disease physician at Intermountain Healthcare, a Salt Lake City-based health system that participated in the study . “We hope this is a comfort to the general public.”

Another CDC study shows vaccines suffered some erosion when the delta variant became dominant, especially in adults 65 years of age and older, but the protection against serious illness and death remained strong, although less in this group. The CDC analyzed data on more than 600,000 COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths among people 18 years of age and older based on reported immunization status from April 4 to July 17 in 13 states and cities.

The report estimated that vaccine efficacy against infection decreased by 90 percent at the start of this period, when the delta had yet to gain popularity, less than 80 percent from mid-June to mid-July, when the delta began to compete with other strains of the virus. THEEfficacy against hospitalization and death barely declined throughout the period.

“Reaching another 80% is a very good number,” said Mehul Suthar, a virologist at Emory University who studies the coronavirus. “These vaccines are still resistant to a highly transmissible variant.”

There were more hospitalizations and deaths than in the spring, but not dramatically given the spread of vaccination. Between June 20 and July 17, vaccinated people accounted for 14% of hospitalizations related to covid-19, illness caused by the virus, and 16% of deaths, about double the percentage seen in the spring, the CDC reported.

But that’s not surprising, given that vaccinations have increased dramatically across the country. One would expect a higher percentage of people vaccinated among those hospitalized or dead when they represent a higher proportion of the population. The CDC said its data showed only a very small decrease in protection against serious illness and death, when higher vaccination rates were taken into account.

“Vaccines are still very protective against serious diseases”, said William Moss, executive director of the International Center for Access to Vaccines at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “I think we set our expectations too high for vaccines, thinking they would prevent people from getting infected and spreading the virus.”

The third study looked at the effectiveness of the two mRNA vaccines in hospitalized people at five Veterans Affairs hospitals in Atlanta, New York, Houston, Los Angeles and Palo Alto, Calif. from February 1 to August 6. The report found that MRNA vaccines were 87% effective in preventing hospitalizations and they remained very effective even during the domination of the delta.

Efficacy in preventing hospital admissions fell to 80 percent among those 65 and older, compared with 95 percent among those 18 to 64.

Figures reported on Friday were a reminder of how senior government health officials, as well as the president BidenThey had repeatedly used outdated information from the CDC, saying hospitalizations and major deaths were extremely rare. His message that vaccines are extremely beneficial is largely supported by the new data, but it was based on data that failed to capture the effects of delta, relaxed public behavior, and naturally declining immunity.

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