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DeWine Says Numbers Make the Case for COVID Vaccines

Nurse draws vaccine into vial at Columbus clinic, March 2021
Dan Konik
/
Statehouse News Bureau
Nurse draws vaccine into vial at Columbus clinic, March 2021

Less than 50% of Ohioans are fully vaccinated. And numbers from Ohio’s Department of Health show a staggering difference between serious COVID cases in unvaccinated and vaccinated Ohioans. 

The Ohio Department of Health says since January there have been 17,129 Ohioans hospitalized with COVID. Just 205 of them, or one percent, were vaccinated. During that same period, 6,812 Ohioans died from COVID – and less than one percent (34) were vaccinated.

Gov. Mike DeWine says this makes the case for getting COVID vaccines. 

“These numbers are stunning. We are seeing them across the country. 99% of hospitalizations for COVID are because that person was not, in fact, vaccinated,” DeWine says.

ODH Medical Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff says the new Delta variant is spreading throughout Ohio. He says it’s not a matter of if unvaccinated Ohioans will get COVID, it is a matter of when they’ll get it. And he points out COVID is far more dangerous than any side-effects from the COVID vaccine. 


Numbers at a glance

COVID HOSPITALIZATIONS
Since January 1, 2021

  • 17,129 hospitalized with COVID
  • 16,924 of those were unvaccinated
  • 205 of those were vaccinated
  • Approx. 1% of those with COVID were vaccinated (0.9880319)

**************************************************************************
COVID DEATHS
Since January 1, 2021

  • 6,846 total deaths due to COVID
  • 6,812 unvaccinated deaths
  • 34 vaccinated
  • Just under 1% of deaths due to COVID were people who'd been vaccinated (0.0049664)

Copyright 2021 The Statehouse News Bureau. To see more, visit The Statehouse News Bureau.

Jo Ingles
Jo Ingles is a professional journalist who covers politics and Ohio government for the Ohio Public Radio and Television for the Ohio Public Radio and Television Statehouse News Bureau. She reports on issues of importance to Ohioans including education, legislation, politics, and life and death issues such as capital punishment.