HONOLULU — COVID-19 vaccines provide excellent protection against hospitalization and death, according to a Hawaii Department of Health analysis of vaccine breakthrough data.

A breakthrough infection occurs when a fully vaccinated person tests positive. Individuals are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after completing their initial vaccine series.

Hawaii data on deaths that occurred from Jan. 1 through Sept. 30 found that fully vaccinated people ages 0-59 were 34 times less likely to die of COVID-19 than unvaccinated individuals. Fully vaccinated people age 60 and older were nine times less likely to die of COVID-19 than unvaccinated individuals.

In the January through September time period, DOH documented 36 deaths among fully vaccinated people in Hawaii and 146 hospitalizations. The majority of hospitalizations and deaths reported in the same period occurred among unvaccinated individuals.

The analysis also examined the effect of the delta variant on vaccine efficacy. While the frequency of breakthrough hospitalizations and deaths increased during the delta variant period, breakthrough events remained relatively uncommon compared to the total number of hospitalizations and deaths.

Click here to view the full report.