Outbreak of the unvaccinated continues
Unvaccinated patients continued to dominate the city’s tally of the recent Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases.
Data from the UP Baguio Department of Mathematics and Computer Science and the Baguio City Health Services Office showed that 55.04 percent of the city’s 7,568 cases from Aug. 18 to Sept. 30 had not received a single dose of the vaccine while 16.48 percent were just partially vaccinated.
Of the 138 deaths recorded during said period, 109 were unvaccinated, one was not eligible for vaccination and 13 were partially vaccinated.
The unvaccinated also comprised the majority of the severe and moderate patients with 31 out of 44 and 85 out of 108, respectively. The partially vaccinated accounted for six severe and 23 moderate cases.
The City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (CESU) of the CHSO said nine out of the ten hospitalized in the city as of Sept. 30 were unvaccinated.
Another set of data from the two agencies revealed that from May to September, 2021, there were 274 COVID-19 deaths in the city and of the total, 236 or 86.13 percent were unvaccinated and one or 0.36 percent were not eligible.
Ten or 3.65 percent were partially vaccinated and 27 or 9.85 percent were fully vaccinated.
Mayor Benjamin Magalong and the city’s health experts earlier described the city’s situation amid the Delta variant-driven surge as an outbreak of the unvaccinated after unvaccinated individuals especially the elderly and those with pre-existing illnesses turned out to be the ones in severe and critical condition overwhelming the hospital facilities.
Vaccine effectiveness study showed that unvaccinated persons have more chances of getting COVID-19 than the vaccinated individuals but it does not mean that vaccinated persons will not get the virus or will not develop symptoms.
“Our vaccines are not perfect but they lessen the chances of developing severe symptoms, hospitalization and death. There will be breakthrough infections and deaths but what is important is we have better chances of not ending up in hospitals needing oxygen and ventilators,” the CESU said. – Aileen P. Refuerzo
