As New York City continues to push people to be vaccinated, with the Delta variant causing a spike in cases, Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi presented some new data on the effectiveness of vaccines.
“The vaccines continue to prevent the outcomes we most want to avoid, hospitalizations and deaths,” he said. “Unvaccinated people are at least 13 times more likely to be hospitalized due to Covid-19 compared to fully vaccinated people.”
He said Covid cases among vaccinated people remain uncommon, but have increased in recent weeks because of the Delta variant. Seventy-five percent of New Yorkers have had at least one dose.
Chokshi acknowledged that more vaccinated people are being infected.
“Covid-19 cases in vaccinated people remain uncommon but have increased in recent weeks,” he said. “This is likely due to the more contagious Delta variant as well as higher levels of community transmission overall.”
He said the numbers show just how uncommon cases among the vaccinated are. “Our data shows that among fully vaccinated New Yorkers only 0.33% were infected, 0.02% were hospitalized, and only 0.003% died.”