Pasadena’s Full Vaccination Rate Reaches 82.7%

Public health officials reported 82.7% of Pasadenans over 12 years old were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Tuesday, with another 8.8% of eligible residents having already received single doses of two-dose vaccine regimens.

Meanwhile, 12 new infections were detected in the city and no new fatalities were recorded, according to Pasadena Public Health Department data.

The new cases raised Pasadena’s pandemic total to 12,169 confirmed infections, while the death toll remained stable at 353.

Over the prior week, an average of 29.1 new infections were detected daily, records show.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported 2,622 new COVID-19 cases and 22 deaths on Tuesday, raising the pandemic totals to 1,331,859 infections and 4,805 fatalities.

Hospitalizations continued to climb, with 1,503 patients being treated for COVID-19 at county hospitals, the agency said in a written statement. Twenty-three percent of them were being treated in intensive care units.

Tuesday’s countywide test positivity rate stood at 4.6%.

The vast majority of those who have been ending up in hospitals with the virus have been unvaccinated people, county officials said.

“In late July, about 94 people newly admitted to a hospital each day were positive for COVID-19,” the statement said. Of these, 88% were unvaccinated.

“Among the more than 5.1 million fully vaccinated people in L.A. County, Public Health identified less than 1% or 15,628 people fully vaccinated who tested positive for COVID-19 as of August 3,” according to the county statement. “Of those who tested positive, 446 were hospitalized. This translates to 0.009% of all fully vaccinated people ending up hospitalized.

“Deaths in this group are also very low at 0.0008%, representing 41 people fully vaccinated that tragically passed away,” the statement continued. “This compelling evidence shows that fully vaccinated people remain at low risk for becoming infected and even lower risk for having a bad outcome if they are infected.

Now is a particularly critical time to increase vaccinations, given the high level of community transmission.

The vaccines “are effective and safe and provide the most powerful tool for ending the pandemic,” L.A. County Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer said. “That is why we work so hard to ensure barrier-free access to vaccinations. This is also why we favor targeted vaccination mandates since this is the tool that offers us the most protection from spread of COVD-19. High rates of vaccination allow us to remain fully open and protect those not yet eligible or able to get vaccinated.”

At the state level, public health officials reported 9,625 new infections and 10 deaths on Tuesday, bringing the statewide totals to 3,959,797 COVID-19 cases and 64,328 fatalities.

The average positivity rate over the prior week stood at 6.2%, according to California Department of Public Health data.

As of Tuesday, L.A. County represented 34% of California’s COVID-19 infections and 39% of the state’s fatalities.