Health Department Releases Data on COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness

The overwhelming majority of COVID-19 illness, hospitalizations and deaths are among New Yorkers who are not fully vaccinated

The COVID-19 vaccines are very effective at preventing the most severe outcomes of COVID-19, like hospitalization and death

August 25, 2021 — The Health Department today released new data on vaccine effectiveness and breakthrough cases, hospitalizations and deaths. Between January 17 and August 7, 2021, 96.1% of COVID-19 cases, 96.9% of COVID-19 hospitalizations, and 97.3% of COVID-19 deaths in New York City were in people who were unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated. Additionally, for the same time period, 0.33% of fully vaccinated New Yorkers have ever been diagnosed with COVID-19, 0.02% have been hospitalized with COVID-19, and 0.003% have died due to complications with COVID-19.

“Our new analysis shows that the vaccines continue to be highly effective against COVID-19 illness, including against the Delta variant,” said Health Commissioner Dr. Dave A. Chokshi “The best way that unvaccinated New Yorkers can protect themselves and their loved ones is by getting vaccinated. The data we’re presenting today is real-world and rigorous. The bottom line: vaccines keep you alive and out of the hospital.”

For the most recent week of data from August 7, unvaccinated New Yorkers are 3.1 times more likely to get COVID-19 than fully vaccinated New Yorkers. Additionally, unvaccinated New Yorkers are almost 10 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 than those who are fully vaccinated.

Table 1: Very few fully vaccinated New Yorkers are being infected and getting severely sick from COVID-19

Table 2: Illness, hospitalizations and deaths are overwhelmingly among people who are not fully vaccinated


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MEDIA CONTACT: Patrick Gallahue / Michael Lanza,
PressOffice@health.nyc.gov