White House press secretary Jen Psaki: “You are 17 times more likely to go to the hospital if you’re not vaccinated, 20 times more likely to die.”
PolitiFact’s ruling: True
Here’s why: On Jan. 10, when the U.S. reported 1.35 million new COVID-19 instances — the best each day complete for any nation on file — White House press secretary Jen Psaki confronted pushback concerning President Joe Biden’s assertion that the pandemic is, at this level, “a pandemic of the unvaccinated.”
During a press briefing that day, Fox News reporter Peter Doocy implied that Biden’s characterization was inaccurate.
“I understand that the science says that vaccines prevent death,” he stated. “But I’m triple vaxxed, still got COVID. You’re triple vaxxed, still got COVID. Why is the president still referring to this as a ‘pandemic of the unvaccinated?’”
In her response, Psaki emphasised that vaccination standing contributes to a “significant difference” in COVID-19 experiences.
“I had been triple vaxxed,” she stated. “I had minor symptoms. There is a huge difference between that and being unvaccinated.”
She continued: “You are 17 times more likely to go to the hospital if you’re not vaccinated, 20 times more likely to die. And those are significant, serious statistics. So, yes, the impact for people who are unvaccinated is far more dire than those who are vaccinated.”
A spokesperson for Psaki stated she was referring to publicly out there information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And the CDC information assist her declare.
In October, unvaccinated individuals had 10 times the danger of testing optimistic for COVID-19 and 20 times the danger of dying from COVID-19 in contrast with individuals who have been absolutely vaccinated with extra or booster doses, in accordance to the CDC’s COVID Data Tracker.
On COVID-19 hospitalizations, CDC information from the tip of November 2021 indicated that unvaccinated adults ages 18 years and older have been hospitalized with COVID-19 at a charge of about 67.8 per 100,000. By comparability, the speed for absolutely vaccinated people was about 3.9 per 100,000, which means unvaccinated individuals have been about 17 times more likely to be hospitalized due to COVID-19.
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Data from Texas additionally helps Psaki’s claims. According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, information from September indicated that “Texans not vaccinated against COVID-19 were about 20 times more likely to suffer a COVID-19-associated death and 13 times more likely to test positive than people who were fully vaccinated.”
With the U.S. now averaging more than 700,000 new coronavirus instances daily, the information reveals that people who find themselves unvaccinated are at the next threat of extreme sickness and loss of life than those that are vaccinated.
The CDC says scientists are presently researching how protected absolutely vaccinated individuals will be towards an infection, hospitalization and loss of life the place the omicron variant is worried. The extremely transmissible variant started to unfold within the U.S. in early December and is fueling a surge that specialists predict might final via January.
But a number of the most up-to-date omicron surge information from cities New York and Seattle signifies that COVID-19 vaccines nonetheless “radically reduce the chance of severe COVID illness,” in accordance to a knowledge evaluation by the New York Times.
Data on COVID-19 deaths from these cities signifies a comparatively low threat of loss of life for people who find themselves vaccinated. Deaths among the many vaccinated are anticipated to rise due to a rise in vaccinated individuals who have contracted the virus. “They are likely to be concentrated among people in vulnerable health, including the elderly and those with a serious underlying medical condition like a previous organ transplant — especially if they’re not boosted.”
Data on deaths lags behind information on infections by about three weeks. But the Times reported that the early numbers counsel any will increase in deaths among the many vaccinated will be comparatively modest. “Deaths among unvaccinated New Yorkers and Seattleites had already begun to surge in December,” the Times wrote. “Deaths among the vaccinated had not.”
Our ruling
Psaki stated “You are 17 times more likely to go to the hospital if you’re not vaccinated, 20 times more likely to die,” in contrast to people who find themselves absolutely vaccinated towards COVID-19.
The most full information out there from the CDC and analysis from Texas assist this declare. While these research are based mostly on information collected prior to omicron variant spreading within the U.S., early information from New York and Seattle in December and January proceed to counsel a big hole between the experiences of the unvaccinated and the vaccinated who change into contaminated.
We charge this declare True.
Jen Psaki
Sources
WhiteHouse.gov, “Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jen Psaki,” Jan. 10, 2022
Instagram put up, Jan. 10, 2022
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Rates of COVID-19 Cases and Deaths by Vaccination Status,” accessed Jan. 12, 2022
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Omicron Variant: What You Need to Know,” accessed Jan. 12, 2022
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Rates of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 hospitalizations by vaccination status,” accessed Jan. 12, 2022
Texas Department of State Health Services, “Texas Data Shows Unvaccinated People 20 times More Likely to Die From COVID-19,” Nov. 8, 2021
Texas Department of State Health Services, “COVID-19 Cases and Deaths by Vaccination Status,” accessed Jan. 12, 2022
NPR, (*17*) Jan. 10, 2022
Business Insider, “Psaki and Fox News reporter spar over Biden’s ‘pandemic of the unvaccinated’ comments: ‘You’re 17 times more likely to go to the hospital if you’re not vaccinated, 20 times more likely to die,’” Jan. 10, 2022
USA Today, “US averaging 700K new COVID cases per day; Rep. Ocasio-Cortez tests positive: Updates,” Jan. 9, 2022
Kaiser Health News, “One Day, 1.35 Million Covid Infections: US Reports Shocking Record Cases,” Jan. 11, 2022
Reuters, “U.S. reports 1.35 million COVID-19 cases in a day, shattering global record,” Jan. 11, 2022
WhiteHouse.gov, “Remarks by President Biden on Fighting the COVID-19 Pandemic,” Sept. 9, 2021
The Washington Post, “Biden: Coronavirus is ‘a pandemic of the unvaccinated,’” July 29, 2021
The Washington Post, “The overwrought pushback on the ‘pandemic of the unvaccinated,’” Jan. 11, 2021
The New York Times, “Early Data Hints at Omicron’s Potential Toll Across America,” Jan. 9, 2022
The New York Times, “In Omicron Hot Spots, Hospitals Fill Up, but I.C.U.s May Not,” Jan. 4, 2022
The New York Times, “A Growing Gap,” Jan. 11, 2022
Twitter, tweet from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention verified account, Sept. 23, 2021
This article initially appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Are unvaccinated individuals 17 times more likely to be hospitalized?
