Is the new crown vaccine really effective?
The severe disease rate of Omicron is only 0.19%. Do I still need to get the new crown vaccine?
Do you often see this kind of questions on the Internet? Have you ever thought in your mind, since the severity rate of Omicron strain is only 0.19%, why should you get vaccinated?
Recently, American researchers published in the journal "Clinical Infectious Diseases" about the impact of new coronavirus variants on the clinical outcomes of hospitalized patients. The results of the study showed that among hospitalized patients infected with the Omicron and delta strains , the risk of severe illness or death in those who had received the vaccine or had a history of viral infection was less than half that of those who had not been vaccinated.
The study included 3,369 patients who had not received the new coronavirus vaccine, and 1,320 patients who had received the new coronavirus vaccine or had a history of new coronavirus infection. The results showed that 997 (29%) of the unvaccinated people developed severe illness or death within 28 days of being infected with COVID-19, and 269 (22%) of the vaccinated or previously infected patients developed severe illness or died within 28 days of being infected with COVID-19.
Researchers analyzed the situation of inpatients infected with the new coronavirus (infected with the original strain, Alpha strain, Delta strain, Omicron strain or other strains) admitted to 5 hospitals in the eastern United States. They determined whether the patients had hypoxia, shortness of breath, tachycardia or fever through local monitoring, and obtained data on infection with the new coronavirus strain through sequencing. They then used a model to estimate a patient's risk of severe illness or death within 28 days of infection with different strains of the coronavirus, combined with their previous infections and vaccinations.
In unvaccinated patients, the relative risk of severe illness or death was 1.30 for the delta strain compared with the original strain, 0.94 for the Omicron strain, and 0.72 for the Omicron strain compared with the delta strain. That is, the risk of severe illness or death among unvaccinated hospitalized patients infected with the Omicron strain is lower than that of the Delta strain and slightly lower than that of the original strain.
Among hospitalized patients infected with the Omicron and Delta strains, those who had been vaccinated or had a history of viral infection had less than half the risk of severe illness or death than those who were not vaccinated; there was no significant difference in the consequences of infection with the Delta and Omicron strains.
