Breakthrough Events, January 5

Starting with this month, this series will appear only once a month.  And it likely will be abandoned altogether soon.  We keep tracking this only because we still have knuckleheads pushing for continued doses of vaccines, despite the fact that 90% plus of the population has been infected at least one time and 70% have been vaxed.

Dave’s notes:

1. This post is an update to the Covid vaccination breakthrough data table and charts for the overall Minnesota population published on 12/31/2022 here: https://healthy-skeptic.com/2022/12/31/breakthrough-events-december-29/. This week’s update adds data through the week starting 12/11/2022, published by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) on 1/05/2023.  As usual, there were also relatively minor revisions to past data as MDH rescans the vaccination data bases every week.
2. The breakthrough data files are available from MDH here, https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/stats/vbt.html , in the notes under the graphic images.
3. Fig. 1: This table displays the total cases, hospital admissions, and deaths that occurred each week among the unvaccinated, vaccinated but not boosted, and vaccinated and boosted populations. Cases and admissions remain in the same general range that they have been in since September 2022. Deaths for the week of 12/11/2022 are lower than is typical in recent months, but delays in processing death certificates over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays likely accounts for the lower numbers.
4. Fig. 2 through 4: Charts displaying the cases, hospital admissions, and deaths over time, using the same data in Fig. 1. The decrease in deaths in Fig. 4 since the middle of October 2022 is especially dramatic, especially among the boosted. It would be very encouraging if this trend is real, and not just an artifact of delayed data processing by MDH and local health officials.
5. MDH defines the fully vaccinated (what we have termed vaccinated but not boosted) as those who have not received a booster after completing their primary vaccination series, and had been vaccinated at least 14 days prior to testing positive.
6. MDH defines the boosted as those who have received any additional vaccination shots after completing their primary vaccination series, and also received the booster at least 14 days prior to testing positive. In addition, booster doses were only counted after 8/13/2021, the date the CDC first began recommending booster shots.