You Are Four Times Less Likely to Get Infected with COVID-19 When Fully Vaccinated — and 14 Times Less Likely to Be Hospitalized

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health or Public Health Aug 14, has confirmed 21 new deaths and 4,229 new cases of COVID-19. 

Following the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or CDC approval of an additional dose of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines for immunocompromised people, Los Angeles County began administering third doses to those who are eligible Aug. 14. The FDA has amended the Emergency Use Authorization for these vaccines to allow for a third dose which can be administered at least 28 days following the second dose of the vaccine.

To date, Public Health identified 1,347,023 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County and a total of 24,892 deaths. There are 1,627 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized and 23% of these people are in the ICU.

Testing results are available for over 7,668,000 individuals with 16% of people testing positive. Cases have been reported at an average rate of more than 3,000 cases a day for about the past week; a rise in case numbers can be expected in the coming weeks with increased testing. The Aug. 14 daily test positivity rate is 3.96%, down 25% when compared to the 4.8% positivity rate last Saturday. This is likely to reflect the increased number of people completing routine screening tests.   

With very high rates of community transmission, more fully vaccinated people are getting post-vaccination infections. However, infection rates show that unvaccinated people are almost four times more likely to get infected with COVID-19.

The case rate for unvaccinated individuals is 243 cases per 100,000 people while the case rate for fully vaccinated people is 66 cases per 100,000 people. 

Being vaccinated also means that if someone gets infected, they are much less likely to get severely ill or die. Vaccinated people are about 14 times less likely to be hospitalized than their unvaccinated or partially vaccinated counterparts; the hospitalization rate for fully vaccinated people is slightly less than 1 hospitalization per 100,000 people. And almost no fully vaccinated people are dying from COVID. T

This data provides significant reassurance that fully vaccinated people remain at relatively low risk for becoming infected with COVID-19 and even lower risk for having a bad outcome if they are infected.

Of those who become infected after they have been fully vaccinated, those most likely to end up in the hospital are people with chronic illnesses and weakened immune systems; for these people, taking the extra step of layering a mask on top of vaccinations is particularly important.

To find a vaccination site near you, make an appointment at vaccination sites, and much more, visit: www.VaccinateLACounty.com (English) and www.VacunateLosAngeles.com (Spanish). 

Details: www.publichealth.lacounty.gov.