BayCare: Vaccines are the best line of defense

On July 27, 2021 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention once again recommended all individuals, even those who have been vaccinated, wear masks indoors in certain circumstances as COVID-19 infections increase across the country. The main culprit is believed to be the Delta variant, a highly contagious form of the virus that is now believed to account for most of the cases in the country.

Locally, hospitals reported a dramatic spike in hospitalizations. On August 16, BayCare clinicians were caring for more than 1,100 hospitalized COVID-19 patients across its 14 acute care hospitals throughout the Tampa Bay area. The majority of those patients were not vaccinated. In comparison, July 2020 peaked at about 700 COVID-19 patients before any vaccinations were available.

Prevention
Scientific data has shown that COVID-19 vaccines approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) can help prevent serious complications from the virus, hospitalizations and even death.

Currently, there are three approved COVID-19 vaccines including Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson. All three vaccines have proven to be effective against COVID including the highly contagious Delta variant.

“BayCare urges everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated,” said Chief Medical Officer Nishant Anand, MD. “Vaccines are the best line of defense against serious complications from a COVID infection.”

Why aren’t the vaccines better at fighting off the Delta variant?
The COVID-19 vaccines are believed to be providing good protection against every strain of COVID thus far. And the vaccines are protecting most of those vaccinated individuals who have a “breakthrough” case of COVID from having worse medical complications which could require hospitalization. But no vaccine is 100% effective and until there is herd immunity – meaning enough people have developed immunity to COVID so that the virus has difficulty finding new hosts to infect – we can anticipate the virus will continue to evolve. Scientists believe the United States could obtain herd immunity when about 70 percent of the population is vaccinated.

For more information about COVID-19, visit BayCare.org/coronavirus.