If you’re unvaccinated, a CDC study suggests you could be 29 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19

A CDC study found that unvaccinated people in Los Angeles County were 29 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 than those who are fully vaccinated.

The CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report released Tuesday also determined that unvaccinated people in the county were almost five times as likely to contract the coronavirus compared to their fully vaccinated counterparts.

The study, spanning May 1 to July 25, documented more than 43,000 COVID-19 infections in the county among residents aged 16 and older. About a quarter of these cases occurred among the fully vaccinated, 3.3 percent among the partially vaccinated and 71.4 percent among the unvaccinated.

Fully vaccinated people appeared to avoid severe illness at a greater rate, and fewer of them were hospitalized, admitted to an intensive care unit or needed mechanical ventilation, compared to those who were unvaccinated.

Significance: The results back the justification that getting fully vaccinated can reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection and hospitalization, even as the delta variant dominates the U.S.

“These data remind us that if you are not vaccinated, you are among those highest at risk,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said during a Tuesday briefing.

But: The vaccine’s effectiveness has also apparently slipped amid the delta variant. The data showed at the beginning of the study unvaccinated people were eight times as likely to contract COVID-19 than the fully vaccinated. That dropped to nearly five times as likely by July 25.