I interviewed Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness on a podcast recorded December 1st, and the mayor was quite proud of the fact that 88% of Fishers adults had received at least the first inoculation of the COVID vaccine.  This is in a state where it is a struggle to get that number above 50% in all of Indiana.

If you want numbers on why COVID vaccine might be a good idea, just review the data shared by Fishers Health Department Epidemiologist Josh Robinson in a video update posted December 14th.

If you are age 12 or older, and unvaccinated, the 7-day rolling average case incidence rate per 100,00 is 190.4.  Among those vaccinated, that same rate is 31.6.

For the time period December 2nd through December 8th, unvaccinated residents had a 6.1 times higher risk of testing positive for COVID 19.

“The COVID 19 vaccines remain effective at preventing severe outcomes,” Robinson said.  “94% of statewide hospitalizations recently were in the unvaccinated individuals.”

As to the latest COVID variant, Omicron, it appears to spread faster than the Delta variant.  Omicron also presents a higher risk of reinfection among those unvaccinated.

What about natural immunity?  “… natural immunity wanes over time and it wanes faster than vaccine-induced immunity,” Robinson said in the video. “Emerging evidence is pointing to, for example, individuals that have received their Pfizer booster dose have a high level of protection from infection and it’s anticipated that all the vaccines will continue to provide a high level of protection from hospitalization.“

For more details on this week’s update, watch the video at the link below.