The hospitalization rate among unvaccinated people was more than 29 times the rate of fully vaccinated people in Los Angeles County, the most populous county in the United States, health authorities said Wednesday.
Fully vaccinated people with COVID-19 infection were significantly less likely than unvaccinated persons to be hospitalized, to be admitted to an intensive care unit, to require mechanical ventilation, or to die from COVID-19 infection, said the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health in a daily release, citing data in a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Between May 1 and July 25, of 43,127 COVID-19 infections in residents of Los Angeles County, 10,895 (25.3 percent) were in fully vaccinated persons, 1,431 (3.3 percent) were in partially vaccinated persons, and 30,801 (71.4 percent) were in unvaccinated persons, according to the report released on Tuesday.
Data from the report showed that infection and hospitalization rates among unvaccinated persons were respectively 4.9 and 29.2 times those in fully vaccinated persons on July 25.
County health officials noted in Wednesday's release that the findings in the report "highlight that efforts to enhance COVID-19 vaccination coverage, in coordination with other prevention strategies, are critical to preventing COVID-19-related hospitalizations and deaths."
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health on Wednesday confirmed 3,322 new cases and 36 new related deaths in the county, home to over 10 million residents, bringing the overall tally since the start of the pandemic to 1,391,363 positive cases with 25,150 related deaths.
There are 1,747 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized in the county and 27 percent of them are in the intensive care units, according to the department.
Official data showed that around 73 percent of Los Angeles County residents aged 12 and older have received at least one dose, and 64 percent have been fully vaccinated.
