ST PAUL, Minn. — New data from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) show unvaccinated Minnesotans are about eight times likelier to land in the hospital and roughly 15 times likelier to die from COVID-19.
The data differs greatly with age but still show a stark contrast between fully vaccinated and not fully vaccinated younger adults.
Minnesotans between 18 and 49 years old who were not fully vaccinated were more than 10 times likelier to go to the hospital for COVID over the last five months, according to the MDH weekly COVID update.
“This is really the best summary of the data,” said Dr. Tim Schacker, Vice Dean of Research for the University of Minnesota Medical School and an infectious disease physician. “Just look at 65 and older. [The case rate] is 72 people per 100,000 in the fully vaccinated versus 490 [per 100,000] who are not fully vaccinated. It's as simple as that.”
The number of overall COVID cases since May is about four times higher in the unvaccinated, according to MDH.
Data among children tell a similar story.
Comparing last November to this November, COVID case rates in children 0 to 11 years old have nearly doubled. The case rate for children 12 to 18 years old, who have been eligible for vaccination, have nearly halved in that same time.
Hospitalization rates follow suit as they have declined over the last year for children over 12 years old and gone up for children 11 and younger.
