Infection, Hospitalization Gap Narrows Between Unvaccinated and Vaccinated: Study

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Infection, Hospitalization Gap Narrows Between Unvaccinated and Vaccinated: Study
 
The protection from vaccines against the virus that causes COVID-19 dropped following the emergence of the Omicron virus variant, but held up better against hospitalization, according to a new study.
 
While the Delta variant was still dominant in the United States, COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations among unvaccinated people were 3.8 times and 12.9 times, respectively, those among vaccinated people without a booster, researchers in California found.
 
The gap between unvaccinated and vaccinated people who received a booster was even wider, with unvaccinated people experiencing infections 12.3 times and hospitalizations 83 times the rate of the metrics in the vaccinated and boosted group.
 
For Omicron,  COVID-19 case incidence among the unvaccinated was just 2 times higher than the vaccinated, while hospitalization incidence was 5.3 times higher. Compared to boosted persons, unvaccinated had 3.6 times higher case rates and 23 times higher hospitalization rates.
 
The study, published as a Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report, examined a cross-section of residents in Los Angeles County age 18 or higher who tested positive for COVID-19 between Nov. 7, 2021, and Jan. 8.
 
Other studies and data analyses have indicated the primary series of the COVID-19 vaccines provide little protection against infection from Omicron and offer reduced but still strong protection against severe disease.
 
But some data on boosters suggest the restored protection, particularly against infection, begins waning just weeks or months after administration. The new study didn’t include an analysis of how long booster protection lasts but it’s an open question, Dr. Peter Gulick, an infectious disease expert at Michigan State University said.
 
The role natural immunity, or the protection from getting COVID-19 and recovering, also wasn’t studied by the California researchers, but it likely plays a part in the narrowing of the gap between the unvaccinated and vaccinated, according to Dr. Adam Cifu, professor of medicine at the University of Chicago.