More evidence that vaccines work
Moderna's jab appears most effective in real world settings
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today issued a new report documenting the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines. It offers the latest evidence proving that a) the three vaccines currently on the market work against the delta variant; b) the mRNA vaccines produced by Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech are superior to the J&J vaccine; and c) if you have the misfortune of contracting COVID-19 after getting vaccinated, you will be far less likely to wind up in the hospital or die from the disease.
Not that any of that will matter to antivaxxers or the right wing politicians who put political pandering ahead of public health.
The CDC’s latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report reviewed medical records from nearly a half million Kaiser Permanente members in the Pacific Northwest. Just over 28% remained unvaccinated during the three summer months of 2021 when the delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 was circulating widely.
Over those three months, the infection rate among the unvaccinated was 30.1 per 1,000 persons, which was more than three times the infection rate among the fully vaccinated. That ratio translates into an overall vaccine effectiveness rate of about 72%.
It turns out it really does matter which vaccine you took. The infection rate among those receiving the J&J vaccine was 15.3 per 1,000 or slightly less than half the unvaccinated rate. That’s slightly below the bar set by the FDA for earning emergency use authorization. On the other hand, the mRNA Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was 70% effective while the mRNA Moderna vaccine worked best with a 78% reduction in the infection rate compared to the unvaccinated.
All of those numbers are well below the effectiveness ratios shown in the clinical trials that the companies submitted to the FDA. In real world settings, drugs and vaccines often turn out to be somewhat less effective than what was shown in the controlled settings of corporate-run clinical trials.
But no one should use that fact as a reason to not get vaccinated or not get the booster (the latest evidence there suggests, as Dr. Atul Gawande tweeted out today,
that protection against COVID-19 requires three doses — not two as originally thought). If you caught the disease after getting vaccinated, the original two- or one-dose regimens proved extraordinarily helpful in preventing severe cases.
Among the unvaccinated, nearly one in five persons who caught COVID-19 wound up in the emergency room. Half of them required hospitalization. Among the vaccinated, only one in 12 reported to ERs and only one in 25 needing hospitalization.
Finally, the mortality rate among the unvaccinated was seven times higher than among fully vaccinated persons. Moreover, deaths among the unvaccinated were evenly distributed among the various age groups. Deaths among the vaccinated were not only far fewer,, but were heavily concentrated among the old with 90% of them having at least one serious chronic condition.
Not that my readers need convincing, but the bottom line for friends and family is go get vaccinated; get the Moderna vaccine if possible; get the booster no matter which vaccine you took first; and get your kids vaccinated.
And, if you truly want to be safe, remember to wear a mask in public settings until the vaccination rate hits 85-90%. It’s our best hope for finally putting this pandemic in the rear view mirror.