Majority of COVID-19 deaths are now among vaccinated Americans

According to the Washington Post, the majority of Americans dying from COVID-19 have received at least one dose of an FDA approved vaccine.

Citing an analysis carried out for The Health 202 by Cynthia Cox, vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Post reported that 58 percent of COVID-19 deaths in August were from people who were vaccinated or boosted.

Researchers at the Kaiser Family Foundation found that COVID-19 deaths have been climbing among vaccinated Americans since last year. In September 2021, vaccinated people made up just 23 percent of COVID deaths. In January and February this year, it was up to 42 percent.

“We can no longer say this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” Cox told The Health 202, disputing previous claims by President Joe Biden, who said in late 2021: “This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. The unvaccinated… That’s the problem.”

This comes at a time when studies continue to show the COVID vaccine’s effectiveness lessening over time.

The CDC released a study in August 2021 which found that the COVID-19 vaccine was around 90% effective in preventing hospitalization associated with COVID-19 and almost 80% effective against new infection.

However, as Dr. Ruth Link-Gelles, an epidemiologist at the CDC, recently noted: “The 90% to 100% protection was what we saw during like pre-Delta time. And so with Delta, we saw it drop into the 70% range, and then for Omicron, we saw it drop even lower, to the 50% range.”

Due to this, the White House is now urging Americans to get an updated booster shot, particularly seniors, minorities and those who live in rural areas.

The Biden administration recently released a statement through senior officials stating that it would direct some of its remaining resources to fight the pandemic into a $475 million campaign and offer support to community health centers and organizations who support the elderly and disabled.