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As the Delta variant brought another wave of COVID-19 infections this summer, the ages of people hospitalized with the disease have dropped significantly in parts of California from previous outbreaks.
This is because young people are vaccinated at lower rates.
This age gap worries more and more health professionals and gives rise to new calls to vaccinate the youngest.
Here is what we know:
The youngest in hospitals
Los Angeles County has reported more unvaccinated people who are younger and otherwise healthier filling hospital beds.
Among the older adults and teens who were hospitalized with COVID-19 from May 1 to August 18, the median age of unvaccinated or partially vaccinated patients was 51, according to data presented at a late briefing August. That’s significantly younger than the median age of fully vaccinated patients in hospital with COVID-19, which was 66.
People who were fully vaccinated were also less likely to need to be admitted to the intensive care unit or to have difficulty breathing such that they must be sedated and have a breathing tube inserted.
At Fountain Valley Regional Hospital in Orange County, the average age of people admitted for hospital treatment in January was 64. He is now 46, recently said Dr Timothy Korber, medical director of the hospital’s emergency services.
Dr Rais Vohra, acting health officer for Fresno County, said people are “in so much danger if you are not vaccinated right now.”
“We are really only seeing many, many unvaccinated people – young people, in their 20s, 30s and 40s – landing in hospitals right now,” Vohra said. “It could be you. It could be someone you love, someone you know.
In Orange County, “the general trend is that it is the 30, 40, 50 year olds who are hospitalized, compared to previous increases when it was really 65 and over”, Dr Regina Chinsio-Kwong, deputy in charge of health, said at a briefing last week.
“If we don’t deal with this pandemic and get people vaccinated early enough, the unvaccinated will essentially allow a new variant. [to emerge] it’s even more dangerous, ”Vohra added.
Some success stories
Some regions and demographic groups that were hit hard at the start of the pandemic by severe disease are now seeing higher vaccination rates, in part due to successful and culturally appropriate public health strategies.
For example, Native Americans now have a higher vaccination rate than any other major racial or ethnic group. Imperial County, an impoverished and largely agricultural county on the Mexican border, has one of the highest vaccination rates in California.
Statewide, vaccination rates among black and Latino residents generally lag behind white and Asian Americans. But in San Francisco and Santa Clara counties, vaccination rates among black and Latino residents are now essentially at least equal to those of white residents.
Vaccination numbers
California reported an increase in vaccinations when Delta struck. But that bump has since faded.
There was a 6.5% drop in weekly vaccinations in California; from August 16 to 22, approximately 326,000 first-dose vaccines were administered, but the following week, approximately 305,000 were administered.
There were 75,526 first dose administrations in LA County between August 16 and 22, and 68,332 the following week. Health officials say the more recent data can sometimes seem artificially low, as it takes time to account for all the doses given on a particular day.
Santa Clara County, the most populous in northern California, reported 9,310 first doses of vaccination in the week before the Food and Drug Administration announcement and 8,515 first doses for the seven-day period that followed.
The challenges ahead
A recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that while 67% of American adults surveyed said they were vaccinated and 3% said they would get the vaccine as soon as they could, about 30% said they were vaccinated. they were not vaccinated.
Of all adults surveyed, 14% said they definitely will not get the vaccine, while 10% said they wanted to ‘wait and see’ how vaccines work for other people, and 3% said that they would only be vaccinated if it was necessary for work or school.
“Young adults (18-29 years), Republicans, rural dwellers and the uninsured still report lower vaccination rates than other demographic groups,” the survey said.
The survey found that one of the reasons for the persistent gap is that unvaccinated adults “are more likely to say that they are not concerned about becoming seriously ill from the coronavirus personally and to believe that getting the vaccine is a problem. greater risk to their own health than contracting the virus ”, while 88% of vaccinated adults say that a coronavirus infection is a greater risk than getting the vaccine.
Most unvaccinated adults who responded to the survey said they believed the media had exaggerated the severity of COVID-19, while most vaccinated adults said the media was either correct or under- estimated the severity of the pandemic.
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