6% Of Pennsylvania COVID-19 Cases Have Been Among Fully Vaccinated
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- COVID-19 cases across the nation are now back to where they were last winter, wiping out months of progress. There are now 170,000 new cases per day.
The Tri-State region is doing better than many other parts of the country, but cases are climbing here too.
For the first time Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Health Department released numbers on breakthrough cases. Breakthrough cases are usually mild, meaning the vaccine is working at guarding against serious disease.
But, the Pennsylvania numbers released Tuesday show the virus is still a threat to everyone.
"The vast majority of COVID-19 related cases, hospitalizations and deaths occurring in Pennsylvania since January occurred in people who were not vaccinated," Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam said.
Out of close to 640,000 COVID cases in the commonwealth, 6% were among those fully vaccinated.
"If you get sick and you had the vaccine, you're not gonna get as sick as you might have without the vaccine," Governor Tom Wolf said.
But, 1,800 people who were vaccinated in the state ended up hospitalized, most had other medical complications.
Of the more than 6,000 people who died, 213 were breakthrough cases. Three percent had been fully vaccinated.
"The vaccines are our best tool to protect ourselves against the virus keep our children learning in school, keep our workforce in person, and to foster social and economic recovery," Beam said.
Despite the vaccine benefits, children remain at risk.
"There is one big gap in the vaccination strategy, if you're under the age of 12 you can't get the vaccine yet," Beam said.
And cases in children have rise dramatically.
In the first week of Sept. children between the ages of five to 18 recorded 5,371 COVID-19 cases. That's a dramatic 835% increase over the same week in 2020.
Gov. Wolf is calling for everyone eligible to get vaccinated in an effort to help those who can't.
"By getting vaccinated you're protecting other people's loved ones in addition to your own," Wolf said. " You lightening the burden for parents, teachers, doctors, the burden they carry each and every day."
While 67% of Pennsylvanians over the age of 18 are now fully vaccinated, the state has been tracking 4,000 new cases a day with a growing number of children being infected.
