White House pandemic adviser Anthony Fauci has acknowledged that COVID-19 hospitalizations are rising among those who are vaccinated and haven’t received the booster shot.
“What we’re starting to see now is an uptick in hospitalizations among people who’ve been vaccinated but not boosted,” Fauci said Tuesday during an NBC News interview. “It’s a significant proportion, but not the majority by any means.”
And on Wednesday, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky said during a briefing that her agency is seeing a decline in vaccine efficacy among elderly recipients and those who live in long-term care facilities.
That matches with CDC data released late last month.
“Although the highest risk are those people who are unvaccinated, we are seeing an increase in emergency department visits among adults 65 and older, which are now again higher than they are for younger age groups,” Walensky remarked.
Residents of long-term care facilities and individuals over age 65 were among the first to be eligible for vaccines last winter.
CDC data shows long-term care residents who got a booster had a “markedly lower” infection rate compared with those who did not, Walensky claimed Wednesday.
