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Omicron is an extremely infectious variant of the coronavirus, capable of infecting both the unvaccinated and the vaccinated. No wonder that vaccine efficacy studies against him are of great interest. American scientists have just published new data on this topic. They show, among others, that hospitalizations in people without vaccination were as much as 23 times more frequent than in people vaccinated with a booster.
- A case study of SARS-CoV-2 infection was conducted in Los Angeles between the beginning of November 2021 and the beginning of January 2022.
- The study included infections caused by two variants: Delta, which dominated until the end of November, and Omikron, which constituted the vast majority of cases from the third week of December
- Researchers found that both infections and hospitalizations were more common in unvaccinated people than in vaccinated people, with the greatest protection against illness and hospital reported in those who received a booster dose.
- The authors of the publication indicate that despite the milder course of Omicron infection in many cases, a large number of infections burden the health care system more than cases in previous waves
- More information can be found on the Onet homepage
How much will vaccination protect against Delta and Omicrons?
The Los Angeles Department of Public Health introduced the results of the analysis of coronavirus infection cases between November 7, 2021 and January 8, 2022. This is the period in which two variants were detected in the tested samples: Delta and Omikron.
The first one since mid-August last year. was identified in almost 100 percent. sequenced samples. That changed in the last week of November, when Omikron appeared in the US. In the week ending December 18, Omikron already accounted for 57 percent. all COVID-19 cases in Los Angeles County. At the end of the research period (the second week of January this year), the variant was already detected in 99%. samples.
During the analysis investigated how vaccination status affects protection against disease and hospitalization due to coronavirus infection. Out of 422 thous. 966 reported SARS-CoV-2 infections in people over the age of 18 141 thousand 928 (33,6%) concerned unvaccinated people, 56 thousand 185 (13,3%) of those fully vaccinated with a booster dose, and 224 853 (53,2%) vaccinated, but without the booster.
It was noted that unvaccinated subjects were hospitalized more often than vaccinated subjects, and this difference was even more significant compared to those who received a booster dose.
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2,8 percent were sent to hospitals. unvaccinated, 0,7% people after the booster and 1 percent. without the third dose. People without vaccination were also more often admitted to the intensive care unit (0,5% compared to 0,08% and 0,12%, respectively) and required intubation for mechanical ventilation (0,2% vs. 0,03 0,05% for booster and XNUMX%).
Similar statistics were found for deaths, which were also reported more frequently among the unvaccinated (0,3%) than among fully vaccinated people who received a booster dose (0,07%) or not (0,08%).
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Delta was more likely to lead to hospitalization
The risk of falling ill and of hospitalization due to COVID-19 was also compared depending on the variant dominating in a given period. Thus, in the 14-day period ending December 11, 2021, the last week of Delta’s domination, the incidence and hospitalization rates among unvaccinated individuals were 12,3 and 83 times higher, respectively, than those of fully vaccinated with booster and 3,8 and 12,9 fold for patients without booster dose.
When Omikron started to dominate, these ratios were lower. There were 3,6 times more infections in unvaccinated people than in people with three doses and two times more than in people without a booster. In the case of hospitalization, the risk in the unvaccinated increased 23 times compared to those with a booster and 5,3 times compared to those vaccinated with two doses.
The authors of the study conclude that a full booster vaccination against COVID-19 is essential to protect against SARS-CoV-2 infection and associated hospitalization.
- Also read: Unvaccinated Omicron convalescents will fall ill again in six months
The researchers also suggest that the risk of having a severe course of COVID-19 (requiring hospitalization) is lower with Omikron than with variant B.1.617.2 (Delta). At the same time, as indicated, yes «the high number of infections burden the healthcare system more than previous waves. The high number of hospitalizations during soaring growth could exacerbate the effects of staff shortages and burnout, which weigh on the healthcare sector, »the publication points out.
Omikron Stats
Let us recall that the first case of Omicron infection was detected around mid-November in Botswana. Within two weeks, the variant spread to other continents, in December in many countries it began to dominate other varieties of SARS-CoV-2. According to the GISAID database, it is currently present in 133 countries. The greatest number of infections caused by it was recorded in Great Britain (almost 339), the USA (about 275) and Denmark (almost 53). It accounts for 98-99 percent there. all cases of COVID-19.
In Poland, Omikron, since the identification of the first case (December 16), has been detected in over 6,6 thousand. samples. The dominance of the variant is 69,6%.
Have you been infected with COVID-19 and are worried about the side effects? Check your health by completing a comprehensive research package for convalescents.
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