Hospitals are seeing a greater number of unvaccinated people who are younger and healthier fill up their beds, according to new data released by Los Angeles County.
Among adults and the oldest teenagers who are hospitalized with COVID-19, the median age of unvaccinated or partially vaccinated patients was 51. That’s notably younger than the median age of fully vaccinated patients in the hospital with COVID-19, which was 66.
Fully vaccinated people were also less likely to need admission into the intensive care unit or to have such difficulty breathing that they need to be sedated and have a breathing tube inserted into their mouth and into the windpipe.
“These findings suggest that vaccination contributes to a less severe course of hospitalization among people who end up infected with COVID,” L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said. “And it also lets us know that the majority of people who are fully vaccinated — and end up hospitalized with COVID — are likely to be much older than people who are unvaccinated.”
Read the full story on LATimes.com.
