Fully vaccinated individuals make up majority of COVID cases and hospitalizations in NSW

02/07/2022 / By Mary Villareal

Vaccinated individuals now make up the majority of Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) cases and deaths in New South Wales. The Australian state’s latest COVID surveillance report showed record spike in cases since omicron arrived late last year, and most cases had been overwhelmingly linked to the vaccinated.

From November 26 last year up to January 8, around 90 percent of those who tested positive were shown to have received two doses of the vaccine.

Excluding children under twelve who are ineligible for the vaccines, the double-vaccinated individuals made up 98 percent of cases. In contrast, unvaccinated individuals, or those with “no effective dose” as classified by the NSW Health, made up less than one percent of cases. This also included anyone who took one shot of a two-dose vaccine within 21 days of exposure to COVID.

Fully vaccinated individuals made up most of the COVID hospitalizations and deaths over the same period as well. For patients hospitalized with COVID, 82 percent already received two doses. Similarly, fully vaccinated individuals also made up around three-quarters of ICU patients and COVID deaths.

New South Wales has a high vaccination rate of 91.5 for qualified individuals as of late November 2021. However, it did not deter cases from skyrocketing to unprecedented levels in recent weeks as the state saw a record number of breakthrough infections. Hospitalizations have exceeded previous peaks from September 2021 and doubled in the week ending January 8, compared to the week before.

At the height of the delta wave, the state reported seven-day averages of about 1,400 cases before most Australians were “fully vaccinated.” However, daily cases peaked at more than 90,000 by early January. COVID-related deaths also rose with a current average of 40 per day, up from just one at the end of December.

Despite evidence of failing vaccines, the NSW government is still requiring its healthcare workers, teachers, airport personnel and senior care workers to be fully vaccinated.

Pandemic of the vaccinated

NSW numbers mirror that of COVID trends in Europe, where recent data from Denmark, the U.K. and Iceland all reported higher rates of infection among vaccinated individuals, with some calling it the “pandemic of the vaccinated.”

In the U.K., the unvaccinated have lower case rates than double-vaccinated individuals across all age groups over 18 as of late January. The vaccinated also made up most of the COVID deaths in Britain, outpacing the unvaccinated nearly five to one. (Related: Excess deaths soaring in every country where covid “vaccine” uptake is high: data.)

COVID cases remain treatable for most who catch it. The NSW Health data shows that 99.4 percent of unvaccinated individuals above 12 years who tested positive between November 26 and January 8 were able to recover from the disease. Unvaccinated children under 18 also have a death rate of less than 0.1 percent.

NSW Health noted: “Since the start of the pandemic, 0.2 percent of cases [738 people] have died. This includes 122 residents of aged care facilities.”

In explaining why fully vaccinated people still get COVID severe enough to end up in the ICU, some doctors point out that no vaccine is 100 percent effective. Stephen Warrillow, the director of intensive care at the Austin Hospital in Melbourne, said: “Very rare events, such as getting critically ill when you’re double-vaxxed, still will occur when you’ve got millions of people [who are vaccinated].”

He also warned that some medical conditions mean others are more at risk for adverse outcomes from COVID despite being vaccinated, such as transplant recipients, whose immune systems are suppressed due to medications to stop their body rejecting new organs.

Warrillow said that it is an especially tough time for people who are immunosuppressed because despite doing everything right, like following all health advice and doing well, they can still get very sick.

Other factors that could lead to more severe COVID cases include obesity, older age, heart disease and other chronic conditions such as obstructive pulmonary disorder.