At least 143 Oregon residents who have received two doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine have died of the virus as of Oct. 14.
The state of Oregon has also recorded 15,057 breakthrough infections and 562 breakthrough hospitalizations among Pfizer recipients since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the latest data.
More than 15,000 Pfizer recipients in Oregon have tested positive for COVID-19.
Moderna and J&J recipients have also reported getting infected with COVID-19. Among those who received the two-dose Moderna vaccine, 72 have died of COVID-19.
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There have also been 7,938 breakthrough cases and 333 breakthrough hospitalizations.
The majority of Oregon residents with COVID-19 are patients aged 65 and older.
However, data from the Oregon Health Authority showed that four in five COVID-19 deaths occurred in the unvaccinated or partially vaccinated population.
During the same period, five in six of the state’s more than 51,000 confirmed COVID-19 infections involved people who have yet to receive a vaccine shot or are not yet fully vaccinated.
“Both hospitalizations and deaths are extremely small in terms of percentage of those vaccinated,” Chunhuei Chi, director of the Center for Global Health at Oregon State University, told the Oregon Live. “That’s why we call the current surge a pandemic of the unvaccinated.”
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The Oregon Health Authority has recorded a total of 348,766 COVID-19 cases among the unvaccinated and vaccinated, with 1,093 additional cases reported on Sunday alone.
Breakthrough cases and deaths have been on the rise amid the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant across the United States.
While public health experts have said that vaccines offer protection against infections, hospitalizations, and deaths, studies have shown that the effectiveness of vaccines wanes over time.
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This is why the rise in cases among fully vaccinated people has prompted the federal government to authorize a third shot of Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines for people with moderate to severe weakened immune systems to boost their protection.
Keep up with more COVID-19 related news here with us at The East County Gazette.