Who’s at highest risk of becoming a severely ill breakthrough case?

Who’s at highest risk of becoming a severely ill breakthrough case?

 

For fully vaccinated Americans, the risk of being hospitalized or dying from Covid-19 is low -- much lower than the risk for unvaccinated people. But in those rare cases when a fully vaccinated person gets infected, data suggests it's older adults and those with multiple underlying medical conditions who are most at risk of serious illness. As of August 30, the CDC has received reports of 12,908 severe breakthrough cases of Covid-19 among fully vaccinated people that resulted in hospitalization or death. For the more than 173 million people who were fully vaccinated by that date, that represents less than a 1 in 13,000 chance of experiencing a severe breakthrough case of Covid-19. About 70% of breakthrough cases resulting in hospitalization were among adults 65 and older, and about 87% of breakthrough cases resulting in death were among adults 65 and older, the CDC data suggests. This CDC data is based on voluntary reporting from states and may be incomplete, but multiple studies suggest similar trends. Unvaccinated adults in the United States are 17 times more likely to be hospitalized for Covid-19 than fully vaccinated adults, and patients hospitalized with a breakthrough case tend to be older and more likely to have at least three underlying medical conditions, according to a preprint study the CDC posted last week. Among vaccinated adults with breakthrough cases that put them into the hospital, the median age was 73 and about 71% had three or more underlying conditions, including diabetes, heart disease and autoimmune conditions.