COVID-19-associated hospitalizations among vaccinated, unvaccinated adults

Editor's Note

This study led by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finds that COVID-19 vaccines are strongly associated with preventing serious illness.

Analyzing data from 192,509 hospitalizations in 250 US hospitals:

• monthly COVID-19 associated hospitalization rates ranged from 3.5 to 17.7 times higher in unvaccinated patients than vaccinated patients, regardless of booster status
• from January to April 2022, when Omicron was predominant, hospitalization rates were 10.5 times higher in unvaccinated patients and 2.5 times higher in vaccinated patients with no booster dose, compared with those who received a booster
• vaccinated hospitalized patients with COVID-19 were older than those who were unvaccinated (70 vs 58 years) and more likely to have 3 or more underlying medical conditions (1,926 vs 4,124).

The results suggest that clinicians and public health practitioners should continue to promote vaccination with all recommended doses for those eligible, the researchers say.