More than half of critically ill COVID-19 patients in Israel are fully vaccinated

In Israel’s COVID-19 wards, nearly 60% of the country’s 514 patients who are currently hospitalized with severe or critical symptoms of the CCP (Communist Party of China) virus are fully vaccinated, according to an Aug.16 report.

The figures have been reported as doctors continually learn which vaccinated patients are most vulnerable to serious illness, amid growing concerns about cases of COVID-19 vaccines offering less protection against the worst forms of the illness.

“There are so many breakthrough infections that they dominate, and most hospital patients are actually vaccinated,” said Uri Shalit, a bioinformatician at the Israel Institute of Technology, reported Science.

For the majority of patients with breakthrough infections, about 87 percent were 60 years or older and received two doses of the vaccine at least five months ago. The results show that “breakthrough cases” are not a rare event as the term implies.

Noa Eliakim-Raz, chief of the COVID-19 service at Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva, said the majority of vaccinated patients hospitalized are older, in poor health, in some cases immobile and already needed nursing care before the infection.

Israel has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, with some 5.4 million people, or 78% of those aged 12 and over, fully vaccinated. The vast majority have received the blow from Pfizer. The country has one of the highest infection rates in the world, however, potentially a sign of declining vaccine immunity, as the Delta variant now accounts for the largest portion of all COVID-19 infections in the country. .

New cases in Israel have seen a steady increase since mid-July, with health officials saying the majority are reported in unvaccinated children, noting that unvaccinated people are still more likely to end up in hospital or die.

Dr Rochelle Walensky, head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told a press conference on Aug. 18 that three recent studies show that the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines declines with increasing time to prevent infection. Although the protection against death and hospitalization “holds up well”, the effectiveness of vaccines “decreases” even in preventing serious illness or death.

“Even though our vaccines currently work well in preventing hospitalizations, we are seeing worrying evidence of decreased vaccine effectiveness over time and against the Delta variant,” Walensky said.

Given the number of fully vaccinated Israelis and the spread of the Delta variant, groundbreaking cases were inevitable, although they are now at the heart of a global debate over whether highly vaccinated countries should donate drugs. booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines, and to whom people.

Israel began offering booster doses to people aged 60 and over in July and has since expanded that eligibility. Other countries, including France and Germany, have so far limited their recall plans to the elderly and people with weakened immune systems.

U.S. officials have said their recall plan is based on fears that over time vaccines will offer less protection against serious illnesses, including in young adults. The booster doses will be available to all Americans from September.

“We are carefully monitoring other countries and [are] fearing that we too will see what Israel is seeing, which worsens infections over time in those vaccinated, ”Walensky said at the Aug. 18 briefing, explaining why federal officials are now recommending that booster shots be given to Americans eight months after they ‘I was vaccinated with the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.

Reuters contributed to this report.