By now, it’s clear that being fully vaccinated and boosted substantially lowers a person’s chance of being hospitalized or killed by COVID-19. But a comprehensive study published recently in theJournal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) pinpoints just how dramatic this positive effect is.
Researchers examined the rate of hospitalizations due to COVID-19 pneumonia or deaths due to COVID-19 among 1.6 million patients at Veterans Health Administration facilities in the U.S. between July 2021 and May 2022—a period that includes both Delta and Omicron waves. Looking only at people who were vaccinated and had received one booster shot (of the original version of the booster), they found that just 8.9 out of every 10,000 people wound up in the hospital with COVID-19 pneumonia or died from COVID-19—less than a 0.1% chance. Boosters also protected older, immunocompromised adults to an impressive degree. The chance of hospitalization or death was just under 1% among vaccinated and boosted older adults with comorbidities or immunocompromised conditions. These findings held true regardless of which COVID-19 vaccine—Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, or Johnson & Johnson—a person received.
The results were even more stunning for boosted, average-risk adults who were under 65. Just 11 people out of 122,028—0.009%—were hospitalized with COVID-19 pneumonia or died during this time period.
The findings are only the latest to confirm the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines and boosters. Another study published in September looking at hospitalizations during the peak of the Omicron wave found that unvaccinated people were 10.5 times more likely to be hospitalized than people who had been boosted (also with the original booster). People who were vaccinated but not boosted were 2.5 times more likely to end up in the hospital than those who had received a booster.
For how effective boosters are, they're dismally underused. Only about 4% of eligible Americans have gotten the new bivalent booster that targets circulating strains of Omicron—and only 35% have ever been boosted at all.
Data like these may help change people's minds. “This is remarkable, good news about the power and effectiveness of receiving COVID-19 boosting for all groups,” said Dr. Dawn Bravata, co-author of the JAMA study and a research scientist at Regenstrief Institute and Roudebush VA Medical Center, in a statement. Such a “thorough” analysis, she says, “should encourage people to get vaccinated and boosted.”
TODAY'S CORONAVIRUS OUTLOOK
More than 619 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 9 am. E.T. today, and more than 6.5 million people have died. On Oct. 5, there were 580,145 new cases and 2,117 new deaths confirmed globally.
Here's how the world as a whole is currently trending, in terms of cases:
And in terms of deaths:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
And here's every country that has reported over 10 million cases:
The U.S. had recorded more than 96.5 million coronavirus cases as of 9 a.m. E.T. today. More than 1.06 million people have died. On Oct. 5, there were 70,991 new cases reported in the U.S., and 1,085 deaths were confirmed.
Here's how the country as a whole is currently trending in terms of cases:
And in terms of deaths:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of Oct. 6. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
Have suggestions for our COVID-19 newsletter? We'd love to hear from you. Fill out our survey here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
COVID-19 has significantly disrupted the fight against HIV, according to a report released today by the LGBTQ media advocacy group GLAAD. COVID-19 precautions and lockdowns were prioritized over other public-health concerns, like care for people with HIV, my colleague Madeleine Carlisle writes. As a result, “services for HIV patients became limited, communities grew hesitant about health-care services, and the rate at which HIV tests—one of the primary tools for fighting the virus’ spread—were administered dramatically declined."
The global pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine have reversed three decades of progress in reducing poverty, according to a report the World Bank released yesterday. The global goal of eradicating extreme poverty by 2030, the report states, is now out of reach.
While scientists remain worried about ever more dangerous strains of SARS-CoV-2 emerging, a new survey finds the average American isn’t concerned. As my colleague Tara Law reports, a poll published this week by the Pew Research Center found that 69% of people in the U.S. believe new variants won’t have a major impact on the country’s ability to contain the virus.
Thanks for reading. We hope you find the Coronavirus Brief newsletter to be a helpful tool to navigate this very complex situation, and welcome feedback at coronavirus.brief@time.com. If you have specific questions you'd like us to answer, please send them to covidquestions@time.com.
If you were forwarded this and want to sign up to receive it twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays, click here.
Today's newsletter was written by Kyla Mandel and edited by Mandy Oaklander.
沒有留言:
張貼留言