Delta variant infects highly vaccinated, but little hospitalized prison population

The fast-spreading delta variant passed through a Texas federal prison over the summer, infecting both unvaccinated and fully vaccinated populations, but few were hospitalized, according to a report released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Of the 233 people held at the prison, which has not been named, 185, or 79%, were fully vaccinated against Covid19, according to the new report, published in the agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

From July to August, 172 incarcerated people, or 74% of the federal prison population, were infected with Covid, according to the CDC. The delta variant hit the unvaccinated harder, the agency said, infecting 39 of 42 prisoners who had not received the vaccines. This compares to 129 infections out of 185 fully vaccinated people.

Four people were hospitalized, three of them unvaccinated, and one person died, unvaccinated, according to the CDC.

The agency said the report demonstrates the potential for outbreaks of delta variants in assembly places, including correctional and detention facilities, even among places and populations with high vaccine coverage.

“Although attack rates, hospitalizations, and deaths were higher in unvaccinated people than in vaccinated people, the duration of positive serial test results was similar for the two groups,” wrote the agency in the report.

Vaccinating most of the U.S. population remains essential because injections are very effective in preventing serious illness, hospitalizations and death, the agency said.

The new report comes as federal health officials urge all Americans to get vaccinated and continue to wear masks indoors, especially in assembly places, as the highly contagious delta variant spreads to across the United States

The United States still has a dangerously high number of cases. The country is reporting an average of more than 138,900 cases per day on Tuesday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The country reports an average of more than 1,900 deaths per day, according to data from Hopkins.

Earlier this month, President Joe Biden presented a broad plan to increase Covid vaccination rates in the United States, pressuring private employers to immunize their workforce and forcing employees federal, contractors and health care workers to be vaccinated.

The plan includes offering boosters of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to the general population.

On Friday, a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee unanimously recommended booster shots of Pfizer for people aged 65 and older and other vulnerable Americans. A final decision from the agency is expected overnight.