Unvaccinated Marin County residents are nearly 50 times more likely than their fully vaccinated counterparts to be hospitalized due to COVID-19, the county’s public health officer said Tuesday.
Local case and hospitalization data from the last three months found that unvaccinated people were roughly 15 times more likely to contract the virus at all, 49 times more likely to be hospitalized due to the virus and 30 times more likely to die from COVID-19.
While 81.2 percent of the county’s total population is fully vaccinated — the highest rate of any county in the state — Public Health Officer Dr. Matt Willis said unvaccinated residents should heed the disparities when weighing whether to get a shot.
“This is an important way for our community members to recognize the benefit of vaccine in terms of protecting against being infected, being hospitalized and dying from COVID-19,” Willis said to the county’s Board of Supervisors.
In addition to initial vaccination series, the county has begun to roll out booster dose vaccinations to eligible groups, including people age 65 and over, people with serious medical conditions and people who are immunocompromised.
As of Tuesday, more than 27,000 county residents have received a booster vaccine dose, equivalent to 10.6 percent of Marin County’s entire population.
Willis said county officials are planning for state and federal emergency use approval of COVID-19 vaccines for children ages 5-11 by Nov. 5 and 6.
Following that approval, Willis said, the county is aiming to vaccinate 15,000 children, about 75 percent of the county’s children in that age range, in the first month after vaccines become available.
The county plans to hold six weekend vaccination clinics for children ages 5-11 at Miller Creek Middle School in San Rafael, Strawberry Point School in Mill Valley and Novato High School as well as a dozen individual one-day clinics at schools across the county.
Marin County residents can visit https://coronavirus.marinhhs.org/vaccinefinder for information about how and where to get a COVID-19 vaccine.