QCOSTARICA – When looking at people without risk factors who have required hospitalization for covid-19 in public hospitals, there are more who did not have a single dose of the vaccine against the disease.
“Many of the unvaccinated patients or those with an incomplete schedule did not present any underlying pathology other than covid-19, that is, they did not have risk factors,” stressed a press release from theCaja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS).
The analysis collected information from 646 patients hospitalized in recent days: 149 unvaccinated, 44 with incomplete schedule and 453 with complete vaccination. Hospitalizations with booster doses are not reported.
For the purposes of this study, an incomplete schedule (partial immunization) is considered one that is equal to or greater than 15 days from the date of the first dose and up to 14 or less days after the application of the second dose. While the complete scheme (complete immunization) is one equal to or greater than 15 days after the date of the second dose.
Susana López Delgado, head of the institution’s Statistics sub-area, indicated that, while the risk factors and comorbidities were normal in those who had the complete scheme and arrived at the hospital, that was not the case in those who had not been fully vaccinated or they had not completed both doses.
“One third or less of unvaccinated patients and even those vaccinated with an incomplete schedule have at least one comorbidity as a risk factor, while 58% of hospitalized patients with a complete schedule have at least hypertension as a risk factor,” she explained.
Most common risk factors
The intensive care unit of Hospital México is one of those that cares for the largest number of patients with covid-19.
López said that in people with a complete regimen, it was more common for risk factors and other diseases to complicate their situation enough to require a hospital. 58% had hypertension, 16% obesity, 43% diabetes, 25% dyslipidemia (altered levels of cholesterol and triglycerides), 9% smoking, and 7% asthma.
In the 44 individuals who had an incomplete scheme, there were 12 hypertensives, two obese, eight diabetics, one dyslipidemic, one asthmatic and two people had smoking as a risk factor.
On the other hand, in the case of those who were not vaccinated, 28% had hypertension, 8% obesity, 15% diabetes, 9% dyslipidemia, 6% smoking and 5% asthma.
If we take age into account as a risk factor, those who had a complete scheme were mainly between 60 and 80 years old, in those who are not vaccinated people of all ages, including young people, are seen.
More days of hospitalization
In addition, the trend seen in previous reports that those who are not vaccinated remain hospitalized nearly twice as many days: an average stay of 23.9 days; those who have one dose spend an average of 15.7 days, and those who have already completed the scheme last 12.7.
“This shows that the vaccines against covid-19 that the CCSS is currently applying have demonstrated their effectiveness in reducing the risk of severe complications and reducing the risk of death from covid-19.”
Why do we see a higher percentage of vaccinated in hospital?
One of the ways to better see the impact of vaccination on populations is to measure two variables: the number of hospitalizations and the number of people vaccinated.
“What we must see is the number of people who require hospitalization compared to a while ago, there we will see in more depth the importance of vaccination and the positive impact it has,” immunologist More Bayone said days ago.
The first CCSS analysis, released on September 21, was made with data from the 14th of that month. That day, there were 1,343 internees, of which 494 in the ICU.
Now, even in the midst of the wave driven by the omicron variant and causing more cases, reaching a record number of 7,325 new cases in one single day, preceded by consecutive days of more than 6,000 new cases daily, the number of hospitalized on the day the analysis was performed is 51.9% less.
On September 14, 60.9% of the population had started their scheme and 33.5% had already completed it. As of January 24, 78% already have at least one dose and 70.8% have already completed it.
In future analyses, it would also be necessary to see how much the reinforcement protects. Data as of January 10 indicate that 10.7% of the population has three doses. If only the population over 58 years of age is taken into account, this reinforcement has reached 58.1%.
The more people vaccinated and with complete vaccination schedules, the higher their percentage will be among those hospitalized and in the ICU: the number that remains unvaccinated is small and therefore their weight will be less and less in any statistics of this type.
“It is clear that when you have a highly vaccinated population, the cases are going to occur in the vaccinated. Why? Because the unvaccinated population is getting smaller and smaller. This is an expected phenomenon. If there are 100 people in a place and of those 95 are vaccinated and 5 are not, and there are seven people in the hospital, then it will be seen that there are more people vaccinated in the hospital, not because the vaccine does not work, it is because the number of unvaccinated almost does not exist,” explained epidemiologist and former health minister Ana Cecilia Morice.
“Seeing it as if it were that there are more and more hospitalized with vaccine without having the complete picture is to interpret an erroneous data. It shouldn’t be used like that,” said Juan José Romero, also an epidemiologist.
However, it is possible that in some cases that already require booster, the vaccines have lost some of their primary efficacy. That is why authorities recommend receiving it, as well as maintaining practices such as the proper use of masks and distancing.
Sources: La Nacion, Ministry of Health, CCSS