Fully vaccinated adults 94% less likely to be hospitalised with covid: Study

Adults aged 65 and older are 94 percent less likely to be hospitalised with covid-19 if vaccinated fully than unvaccinated people of the same age, according to a recent study. 

The study, carried out by the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), also highlighted that people who were partially vaccinated were 64 percent less likely to be hospitalised with the disease than the unvaccinated, reports Washington Post. 

The analysis is one of many by the CDC and other groups to assess the effectiveness of the coronavirus vaccines in real-life conditions which was based on Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines. 

The results are reassuring because they provide the first real-world evidence in the US that both vaccines prevent severe covid-19 illness, said the CDC.

About 68 percent of adults 65 and older in the United States — more than 37 million people — have been fully inoculated, the data shows.

The CDC study looked at hospitalizations among 417 participants during the first three months of this year at 24 hospitals in 14 US states. 

Researchers compared prior covid-19 vaccination in a group of 187 patients who tested positive for the coronavirus infection with a very similar control group of 230 patients who tested negative.

To determine the real-world effectiveness of the vaccines in preventing hospitalization, they compared the odds of prior vaccination between these groups.

As expected, the analysis confirmed that vaccination provided no protection to people who had received their first dose less than two weeks earlier. It takes two weeks for the body to mount an immune response after vaccination.