CLEVELAND — The overwhelming majority of COVID-19 patients at the Cleveland Clinic in 2021 have not been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, the hospital announced on Wednesday.
According to Cleveland Clinic data, there were 4,300 people hospitalized with COVID-19 from January through mid-April at the Cleveland Clinic. Of those, 99% were not fully vaccinated.
The Cleveland Clinic also tracked 2,000 hospital workers who contracted COVID-19. Four months after the COVID-19 vaccine was offered to hospital workers, the Cleveland Clinic found that 99.7% of cases were among those not fully vaccinated.
The Cleveland Clinic said that the newly released data indicates a strong efficacy for COVID-19 vaccines.
“This vaccine is highly effective to prevent our community from getting sick, not only our caregivers but the community,” said Dr. Eduardo Mireles, director of the medical intensive care unit at the Cleveland Clinic. “We have data on both. It cannot be more clear the message that vaccines work and it’s the key action that we need to do to get back to our normal lives as they were before coronavirus.”
As of Thursday, 46.7% of Cuyahoga County residents have gotten a COVID-19 vaccine, according to state of Ohio data. The majority of county adults ages 18-39 have not gotten a COVID-19 vaccine yet.
Roughly 1,500 people a day are getting their first COVID-19 vaccine dose within the county, which is down from a peak of 12,000 per day in late March. In the last week, the Wolstein Center, Walgreens and CVS are among providers opening COVID-19 vaccine appointments for walk-ins.
According to Ohio Hospital Association data, 258 COVID-19 patients remain hospitalized in intensive care units throughout the state, down from a peak of 1,318 in December, which is around when vaccines became available for healthcare providers and those living in assisted living facilities. The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations and ICU patients has held relatively steady in the state since March despite several million additional Ohioans getting vaccinated since then.
