How many COVID cases and hospitalizations were in fully vaccinated Whatcom residents?
Fewer than one in 35 COVID-19 cases in Whatcom County between February and June were in fully-vaccinated residents.
The others were in people either not yet fully vaccinated or unvaccinated, according to data released Tuesday, Aug. 3, by the Whatcom County Health Department.
“The message is clear: the COVID vaccines are very effective at preventing illness and hospitalizations. Please get vaccinated, and please help those around you get vaccinated,” a news release with the numbers stated.
Between February and June, Whatcom County had 4,101 COVID cases in residents 12 and older, the health department reported.
Of those, 114 (2.8%) were in fully vaccinated people, or breakthrough cases, according to the health department, with the other 3,987 cases (97.2%) were in people either not fully vaccinated or were unvaccinated.
During the same time frame, 210 Whatcom County residents were hospitalized with COVID-related illness, according to the release. Of those, five (2.4%) were among fully-vaccinated residents, while the other 205 (97.6%) were unvaccinated or not yet fully vaccinated residents.
No county-level data on the vaccination status of the 25 COVID-related deaths that occurred between February and June in Whatcom County was included in the report.
But the Washington State Department of Health released in a COVID breakthrough report at the end of last month that found:
▪ 97.4% of all COVID-19 cases in the state between February and June were in residents who were not fully vaccinated.
▪ 96% of all COVID-related hospitalizations were in residents who were not fully vaccinated.
▪ 94.3% of all COVID-related deaths were in residents who were not fully vaccinated.
The state’s COVID dashboard reported that approximately 61.2% of all Whatcom County residents (139,522 people) have initiate vaccination and 56.0% (127,689 people) have completed it as of Saturday, July 31.
As of July 26, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that approximately 163 million people in the U.S. had been fully vaccinated. Across 49 of the 50 states, only 6,239 have been hospitalized and 1,263 have died.
“Vaccine breakthrough cases occur in only a small percentage of vaccinated people. To date, no unexpected patterns have been identified in the case demographics or vaccine characteristics among people with reported vaccine breakthrough infections,” the CDC wrote.
“COVID-19 vaccines are effective. CDC recommends that everyone 12 years of age and older get a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as they can.”
