COVID-19 Update: What Happens to Fully Vaccinated People Getting Hospitalized?

Recent research shows that individuals who were fully vaccinated and hospitalized with COVID-19 in the first half of the year may not have had severe COVID-19.

According to a study obtained by The Atlantic, about 57 percent of completely vaccinated COVID-19 patients who were hospitalized had moderate or asymptomatic illnesses.

MESSINA, ITALY – JUNE 10: A doctor vaccinates a young woman in front of some works of modern art on display at the MuMe-Museo Regionale in Messina during VACCINArte’s “discover, get excited and get vaccinated” event, organized by the Region of Sicily from 6 p.m. to midnight. An idea to promote the vaccination campaign and the artistic heritage at the same time, transforming some museums into vaccination hubs for a day on June 10, 2021 in Messina, Italy. Three museums in Sicily will be install vaccination hubs for just one evening. VACCINArte, the joint initiative between the Regional Health Department and that of Cultural Heritage and Sicilian Identity, aims to encourage inoculations against the Covid-19 virus as well as promote Sicilian art and museum heritage. (Photo by Fabrizio Villa/Getty Images)

From March 2020 to June 2021, researchers looked at 50,000 individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 at 100 different Veterans Affairs facilities throughout the United States.

The majority of the individuals had moderate or asymptomatic illnesses, according to the study. COVID-19 patients who required oxygen or had a low blood oxygen level were classified as mild to severe.

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Why Are Fully Vaccinated People Getting Hospitalized For COVID-19?

Approximately 36% of participants in the trial had moderate or asymptomatic episodes from March 2020 to January 2021. According to The Week, from January to June 2021, approximately 48 individuals were asymptomatic, and 57 percent of vaccinated patients had less severe COVID-19 instances.

This may be for a variety of reasons, according to The Atlantic. For one thing, these COVID-19 individuals may have been admitted to hospitals for reasons other than COVID-19, yet they tested positive when they arrived.

Alternatively, they may have been admitted to the hospital due to underlying medical problems and a high level of concern regarding their COVID-19 infection.

Some patients may have required immediate medical attention before being discharged from the hospital.

The same The Atlantic report also mentioned that fully vaccinated individuals hospitalized with coronavirus eventually leave the hospital. So there’s an argument to be made for rethinking the measure. Shira Doron, a Tufts Medical Center infectious disease specialist and hospital epidemiologist, told The Atlantic:

“As we look to shift from cases to hospitalizations as a metric to drive policy and assess level of risk to a community or state or country,” she said, “we should refine the definition of hospitalization. Those patients who are there with rather than from COVID don’t belong in the metric.”

The East County Gazette also explained that COVID-19 vaccination lowers your risk of severe disease by around 80%.

In clinical studies, vaccination effectiveness of 80 percent meant that 80 percent of individuals who acquired COVID-19 were unprotected, whereas only 20% were vaccinated.

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