Chart: Less than 0.1% of vaccinated Americans infected with COVID-19

Of the 164 million Americans vaccinated, less than 0.1% were infected with the coronavirus and 0.001% died, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Why is this important: While the “revolutionary cases” have gained media attention, the weak figures show that the pandemic is primarily a threat to the unvaccinated population.

• “[V]Acination is the most important strategy to prevent serious illness and death, ”the CDC noted in a recent report.
• Leaked presentation slides from the CDC showed unpublished research indicating that the Delta variant causes more serious illness in unvaccinated people and spreads as easily as chickenpox.

In numbers : More than 99% of those vaccinated were not infected, according to the CDC.

• Only 0.004% were hospitalized because of the virus.

The big picture: More than half of the entire U.S. population is not yet fully immunized, CDC data shows. Nationally, the number of cases has increased since about the end of June.