A report from New South Wales, Australia, indicates that unvaccinated individuals are 16 times more likely to end up in intensive care units or die from COVID-19 compared to their vaccinated counterparts. This comes as authorities urge residents to get vaccinated with Australia starting to coexist with the virus.
Data released by the New South Wales Department of Health late on Monday revealed that only 11 percent of the 412 individuals who died from the Delta outbreak over a four-month period until early October were fully vaccinated, with the average age of those who died being 82 years. About 3 percent of those admitted to intensive care units had received two doses of the vaccine, while over 63 percent of the 61,800 cases recorded between June 16 and October 7 were unvaccinated.
New South Wales health official Kerry Chant stated, "Young people who received two doses of the vaccine experienced lower infection rates and faced virtually no severe illness, whereas the unvaccinated in this age group were more likely to contract COVID-19 and needed hospitalization."
The findings of the report align with data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which noted in September that unvaccinated individuals are 11 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than those who are fully vaccinated.
Australia had largely remained free of the virus this year until the Delta variant outbreak began in June, leading to months of lockdowns in Sydney, Melbourne, and the capital, Canberra. The cities where the virus spread eased strict restrictions after exceeding vaccination targets of 70 and 80 percent.
The vaccine distribution in New South Wales, which includes the city of Sydney, appears to have stabilized after first dose coverage reached nearly 94 percent of the population over age 16.
