Harrisburg, PA - Today, the Pennsylvania Department of Health provided a weekly COVID-19 update as of Monday, Dec. 13.
“Science has proven that vaccines help protect against severe COVID-19 illness and hospitalization and boosters are important as the virus continues to mutate and spread largely through unvaccinated people,” Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam said.
“The Department of Health continues to report on COVID-19 infections that occur after vaccination because it is important for monitoring public health. We know that if the incidence or severity of post-vaccination cases increases significantly, this could be a signal of reduced protection against a variant.”
The department today posted its monthly update on COVID-19 post-vaccination cases, commonly known as “breakthrough.” Between Jan. 1, 2021 and Dec. 6, 2021, data shows the overwhelming majority of cases, hospitalizations and deaths were among unvaccinated, or not fully vaccinated, people. The data shows:
· Vaccinated people are more than 4 times likely to avoid getting COVID-19.
· Vaccinated people have a 2 to 4 times better chance of staying out of the hospital due to COVID-19.
· Vaccinated people are 4 times less likely to die from COVID-19, based on the latest data through Sept. 30.
“COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective for preventing hospitalizations and deaths, even as more post-vaccination cases occur in the context of more transmissible variants and more residents getting vaccinated,” Beam said.
Post-vaccination data and additional information is now posted online at: PA Post-Vaccination Data.
Meanwhile, Pennsylvania continues to make critical strides in getting eligible residents vaccinated working closely with vaccine providers, grassroots organizations, and relevant stakeholders to ensure all Pennsylvanians have access to the COVID-19 vaccine. According to the CDC, as of Monday, Dec. 13, 70.5% of Pennsylvanians age 18 and older are fully vaccinated. This percentage reflects all 67 counties in Pennsylvania.
If you or your loved ones are not yet vaccinated, now is the time to get fully vaccinated, get boosted, and get children ages 5 – 18 vaccinated. Visit vaccines.gov to find a vaccine provider near you to schedule your vaccine appointment.
This week, the Department of Health analyzed the following vaccine data within its 66-county vaccine jurisdiction; Philadelphia is a separate vaccine jurisdiction:
· 418,146 vaccine doses were administered in the past week, including:
o 214,343 booster doses administered in the past week.
o 64,821 pediatric doses administered in the past week.
· 0.9% decrease in vaccines administered from previous week.
Here is a statewide summary of COVID-19 trends over the past 7 days Monday, Dec. 6 – Sunday, Dec. 12:
· The daily average number of cases was 8,199.
· The number of people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 on Monday, Dec. 13 was 5.4% higher than on Dec. 6. The percent of available adult and pediatric ICU beds in the state fell to 14% and 10.3%, respectively.
· There have been 658 deaths attributed to COVID-19 identified in the Pennsylvania death registry in the past 7 days, with 58% occurring in people 70 years and older.
The Department of Health continues to provide the public with extensive and frequently updated data on both the COVID-19 dashboard and the vaccine dashboard. Both dashboards provide an interactive experience for the user to review statewide and local-level data updated daily.
The department also provides a dashboard showing COVID-19 data for skilled nursing homes including case counts, deaths and vaccination status for residents and staff.
For more information on the Department of Health’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, visit here.
To stay informed about the Wolf Administration’s vaccination efforts, the latest federal vaccine news, and answers to pressing vaccine questions, visit the Unite Against COVID Weekly Update.
MEDIA CONTACT: Mark O'Neill - ra-dhpressoffice@pa.gov
# # #