DETROIT – Researchers at Beaumont Health found there is a real benefit to getting a COVID vaccine booster.
Hospitalized patients who received booster doses had a 45% lower mortality rate than unvaccinated, hospitalized patients. That’s according to a study published on March 17 in the Lancet Regional Health - Americas. Boosted patients also had a significantly lower chance of death when compared to fully vaccinated patients.
Of Michigan’s fully-vaccinated population, only around 53% have received a booster dose. Hospitalized patients who received a booster dose had a 45% lower mortality rate than unvaccinated, hospitalized patients.
More than 66% of Michigan residents have received at least one COVID shot, that’s more than 6.6 million people.
Vaccine coverage rates include:
- 27% for those aged 5-11
- 48% for those aged 12-15
- 54% for those aged 16-19
- 54% for those aged 20-29
- 64% for those aged 30-39
- 66% for those aged 40-49
- 76% for those aged 50-64
- 89% for those aged 65-74
- 86% for those 75+
More than 3 million booster and third doses have been administered across Michigan. A third of the people in the booster group who got sick, actually developed symptoms within 12 days of receiving their booster, so they likely didn’t have the full benefit of the booster dose yet. That means the booster may be even more effective at reducing the risk of death than the study even suggests.
The majority of the patients had received one of the mRNA vaccines as their booster. Between Pfizer and Moderna, the researchers didn’t find any differences in protection -- but they didn’t look specifically at mixing and matching or the various combinations of shots people had received -- just whether or not they had received a booster.
Read: Complete Michigan COVID coverage