With the increase in advanced cases of COVID amid the rise of the Delta variant across the country, even vaccinated UC San Diego health workers were not spared. The hospital system saw a significant increase in infections from June to July this year, even though more than 80% of its employees are fully vaccinated.
According to UCSD data recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine, from March to July, a total of 227 workers tested positive. Of these, 57% were vaccinated.
Dr. Francesca Torriani is a professor of clinical medicine at UCSD. She is also the director of the infection prevention and clinical epidemiology program and one of the researchers in this study.
Torriani said the total number of symptomatic cases of COVID-19 went from 15 cases in June to 125 in July, with 75% of cases in fully vaccinated employees. “This is a very healthy and quite young population. The average age was 39, ”he said.
While the number of cases accounted for a small percentage of UCSD Health’s total workforce of 19,000 people, 87% of whom are vaccinated, the growing number of infections points to a decline in vaccine efficacy. This, according to Dr. Torriani, means that people will need a booster dose and continue to wear masks.
“We believe that there is some evidence that the vaccine is declining. We think it could suggest that drivers are needed very soon, ”he said.
During this study period, which was from March to July, an unvaccinated UCSD hospital worker was hospitalized and no deaths were reported.
Dr. Torriani and other medical experts state that advanced infections (infections in vaccinated people) are usually mild and vaccines are still very effective against serious illness and death from the Delta variant.