KEY POINTS
- Most major deaths occurred in people over the age of 80
- Most advanced cases occurred in people between 30 and 59 years of age
- Oregon has reported more than 2,000 advanced cases the week ending Aug. 28
More than 100 people in Oregon have died of COVID-19 even after being completely vaccinated against the virus, according to state data.
At least 113 fully vaccinated Oregonians have died of COVID-19 since January. Of the deaths, at least 63 cases affected people over the age of 80. Twenty-nine cases affected people aged 70 to 79, 15 in people in the age group 60 to 69, 3 in people aged 50 to 59 and 3 in residents aged 40 to 49 .
According to state data, Oregon officials have not yet recorded significant deaths in people under the age of 40.
The number of advanced cases in the state has also increased to 13,166, with the majority of cases in people aged 30 to 59 years. week ending August 28th.
Since January, the state has reported 650 heavy hospitalizations, with 219 cases involving people over the age of 80.
Data from the Oregon Health Authority showed that four out of five deaths from COVID-19 occurred in the unvaccinated or partially vaccinated population. During the same period, five out of six of the more than 51,000 confirmed COVID-19 infections in the state involved people who have not yet received a vaccine or are not yet fully vaccinated.
“Both hospitalizations and deaths are extremely small in terms of the percentage of people vaccinated,” Chunhuei Chi, director of the Center for Global Health at Oregon State University, told Oregon Live. “That’s why we call the current increase a pandemic of the unvaccinated.”
Advanced cases and deaths have been on the rise amid the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant in the United States. Although public health experts have said vaccines offer protection against infections, hospitalizations and deaths, studies have shown that the effectiveness of vaccines decreases over time.
The increase in cases among fully vaccinated people has led the federal government to authorize a third shot of Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines for people with moderate to severe weakened immune systems to increase their protection.
