60 Percent of New Israeli Covid Hospitalizations Are Fully Vaccinated

Need more information on who they are and why they were hospitalized, but this bears watching. JL 

Adela Suliman reports in the Washington Post:

60% of those hospitalized with the coronavirus in Israel have been fully vaccinated.The findings point to the fact that breakthrough cases may not be as rare as hoped. In July, Israel began administering booster vaccine shots, now open to most adults over 50, a move recently followed by the United States and some European and Asian countries. Israel is hoping its boosters will quell a rising number of infections, due to the delta variant.

Almost 60 percent of those hospitalized with the coronavirus in Israel have been fully vaccinated, according to a report in Science, a journal published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The findings point to the fact that breakthrough cases may not be as rare as hoped.

“As of 15 August, 514 Israelis were hospitalized with severe or critical COVID-19 … Of the 514, 59% were fully vaccinated,” Science found, adding that among those vaccinated the majority (87 percent) were aged 60 or older.

Israel has been closely watched by the global public health community as it was among the first countries to begin widespread vaccinations of its population, the vast majority with the Pfizer vaccine. Some 60 percent of its population of 9 million people are now fully vaccinated, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

In July, Israel began administering booster vaccine shots, now open to most adults over 50, a move recently followed by the United States and some European and Asian countries. Israel is hoping its boosters will quell a rising number of infections, due to the delta variant.

Health experts in the United States, Britain and Qatar have said the public should be realistic about what vaccines can do, with research showing a partial erosion in the effectiveness of vaccines against mild to moderate infections. Yet most agree that vaccines remain the best tool in the fight against the virus and are highly effective at limiting deaths and hospitalizations.