Although the vast majority of COVID-19 cases that cause serious illness involve unvaccinated individuals, the growing number of cases prompted by the rapidly spreading delta variant has raised concerns among vaccinated individuals.
Health officials say no vaccine is 100% effective in preventing an infection, but they insist the COVID-19 vaccine is successful in preventing serious illness, hospitalization and death.
In a change of direction this summer, the CDC acknowledged that the war against COVID “has changed,” explaining that vaccinated people “are able to easily spread the virus.” The New York Times reported last month that preliminary data from seven states suggested an increase in advanced cases.
However, public health officials say the pandemic is one of the unvaccinated.
A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Friday found that unvaccinated people were ten times more likely to die or be hospitalized with COVID-19, even with the increasing presence of the delta variant.
The researchers examined severe COVID outcome rates among unvaccinated and fully vaccinated individuals in the time period in which the prevalence of weekly delta cases rose from less than 1% to 90%. In this period, fully vaccinated people accounted for 9% of new deaths from COVID and 8% of new hospitalizations.
“The results coincided with a potential decrease in SARS-CoV-2-confirmed infection vaccine protection and strong continued protection against hospitalization and death associated with COVID-19,” the study said. CDC.
Infections in unvaccinated people can be severe and accompanied by typical COVID-19 symptoms such as fever, fatigue, headache, cough, shortness of breath, and even low blood oxygen levels, according to the University of Iowa Health Care.
Virus levels can be as high in advanced cases as in unvaccinated people, even if vaccinated people don’t get very equally sick. Higher levels also persist for longer than was observed with previous strains, meaning an infected person is likely to become infected for longer, the researchers revealed.
According to Yale Medicine, research shows that people with advanced delta cases carry huge amounts of virus in their nose and throat, and can be contagious whether or not they have symptoms.
“Mild symptoms such as congestion and runny nose are much more common in a vaccinated person with a delta infection, while unvaccinated people are more likely to have severe symptoms,” said Dr. Claudia Corwin, a medical specialist. work from the University of Iowa Health Care, “Many vaccinated people don’t even realize they have a COVID infection because they presume they are seasonal allergies or a common cold.”
But is there any way to differentiate?
“I wouldn’t even try,” said Dr. Ulysses Wu of Hartford HealthCare’s System in Connecticut. “If you have symptoms, whether you are vaccinated or not, the suggestion would be to do a test.”