TEMPLE, Texas — Baylor Scott & White Health is being mentioned by the CDC in its latest data released on the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine and boosters against the Omicron variant.
Per the data, Baylor Scott & White Health contributed to the multisite analysis from ten states of over 222,000 emergency department and urgent care encounters and nearly 88,000 hospitalizations among adults with COVID-19-like illnesses from August 2021 to January 2022.
“We are honored that our Texas-based team was able to again contribute to the global effort to understand and prevent COVID-19 illness,” said Alejandro Arroliga, MD, chief medical officer, Baylor Scott & White Health. “The data out today, some of which came from our hospital in Temple, shows that a third dose was highly effective at preventing hospitalizations related to COVID-19. A 90% effectiveness rate is further proof that the vaccines are working to prevent severe illness and hospitalization, which is what they were intended to do.”
Dr. Manjusha Gaglani of Baylor Scott and White contributed to the study.
"With the Omicron it is not 100 percent protection against infection, but you still do not want to get the most serious infection where you land in the emergency room and the hospital," said Dr. Gaglani
In the data, they found that a third dose was highly effective against both the Delta and Omicron variants when it came to preventing getting COVID-19 (94% and 82%) and hospitalizations (94% and 90%).
For those with only two shots of the vaccine, effectiveness dropped, the data said.
The data encourages those to get the booster, as well as unvaccinated people to get their shots as soon as possible to lessen the likelihood of getting sick or ending up in the hospital.