Few Minnesotans sought COVID-19 vaccine to reduce their infection risks this winter, but at least the shots offered some protection for those who did.
The current vaccine was 33% effective at preventing emergency room and urgent care visits among adults who got COVID, according to interim federal estimates published Thursday. HCMC in Minneapolis and HealthPartners in Bloomington contributed to the federal report.
The vaccine also was about 45% effective in a five-month period this fall and winter in preventing hospital admissions among elderly adults with healthy immune systems, the report showed.
During the pandemic, the initial vaccines appeared 70% to 90% effective at preventing admissions, but at that point few people had exposure to the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, said Dr. Matthew Prekker, an HCMC physician and a coauthor of the report.
Now that most people have been infected, “there is a baseline level of immunity in the community, even independent of vaccination status,” he said. “So the fact that the current vaccine is providing additional protection, even on the margins, is really important.”
The effectiveness data is now more in line with yearly estimates on how well the seasonal influenza vaccine is working, he added.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends COVID vaccinations for people starting at 6 months old. Whether that changes is unclear now that vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is secretary of U.S. Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC.
Kennedy has long voiced concerns about vaccine side effects and postponed this week’s meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. The committee has traditionally guided the CDC on vaccine recommendations.
