By Chuck Dinerstein, MD, MBA — Aug 31, 2021
Why is so much attention being given to those who refused to get vaccinated? Why would someone trade the safe harbor of vaccination for the risk of death from COVID-19 and its variants in the tradeoff calculus?
The CDC is not capturing data on breakthrough COVID-19 infections – infections in those who have been vaccinated. The Kaiser Family Foundation has stepped into the breach to gather state-reported data. Half of the states are reporting breakthrough “events” – cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. Fifteen provide regular updates. Here is the best data we have, at the moment, to answer the question,
Are the COVID-19 vaccinations effective?
- Hospitalizations among the vaccinated range from 0% in California to 0.06% in Arkansas.
- Deaths among the fully vaccinated in all but two states are 0.00%. Arkansas and Michigan reported the highest death rates, 0.01%. For a comparison, deaths attributed to the roughly 900,000 coronary angioplasty procedures done annually in the US is 1.27%
- KFF did apply a bit of chart magic when they put the maximum value at 5% - it compresses the data visually to the left. But even if they set the maximum at 1%, the values all cluster near 0%
- Texas and Florida are not reporting their statistics; perhaps they are too busy carrying for the hospitalized and dying without vaccination.
Enough said.
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Chuck Dinerstein, MD, MBA
Director of Medicine
Dr. Charles Dinerstein, M.D., MBA, FACS is Director of Medicine at the American Council on Science and Health. He has over 25 years of experience as a vascular surgeon.
