A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that unvaccinated Americans are five times more likely to be catch COVID-19 than their vaccinated counterparts. Furthermore, the CDC found that unvaccinated Americans are 29 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 than unvaccinated Americans.
“This means that vaccinated persons are much less likely to have severe illness and may only have mild symptoms,” Dr. Sharon Balter of the Los Angeles Public Health Department told NBC News.
“This is a great reason to get vaccinated.”
The CDC came to this conclusion after studying more than 40,000 COVID-19 cases reported in Los Angeles County between May 1 and July 25. By this time, the delta variant was rising and becoming more prevalent in the U.S. As the delta variant went from being responsible for 8% of cases analyzed to 90% of the cases analyzed during this period, researchers still found that the COVID-19 vaccine was able to fight well against the virus.
“These infection and hospitalization rate data indicate that authorized vaccines were protective against SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe COVID-19 during a period when transmission of the Delta variant was increasing,” the report stated.
Still, health officials are warning vaccinated Americans not to get comfortable and continue wearing masks in public venues.
“At the same time, because vaccinated people can get Covid and may have mild symptoms, we do encourage vaccinated people to wear masks to prevent spread to unvaccinated people who may become severely ill,” Balter concluded.
