New Jersey health officials say that almost 50 fully vaccinated people have died from COVID-19, according to data through July 12, NJ Advance Media reported on Wednesday.
Donna Leusner, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health, told the news outlet that all 49 people who died were over 50 years old. Thirty were over 80 years old, 13 people were between 65 and 79 years old, and six were between 50 and 64 years old.
Leusner also said many of the people who died had preexisting conditions. Seventeen people had cardiovascular disease, nine had cancer or other conditions that compromised their immune systems and seven had diabetes, the news outlet reported. Others had chronic conditions in the lungs, kidney and liver.
The number of vaccinated people who have died from COVID-19 represents a slight uptick since New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) announced on Monday that 31 inoculated people had died from the coronavirus, according to NJ Advance Media.
Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious diseases expert, has mentioned that breakthrough cases among fully vaccinated people is inevitable but has stressed that more than 99 percent of those who died from COVID-19 in June were not vaccinated.
In mid-June, New Jersey reported that 4.7 million people — or 70 percent of the state’s adult population — were fully vaccinated, hitting the goal about two weeks earlier than expected, ABC 7 New York reported. About 5.1 million people are fully vaccinated in the state.
According to data from John Hopkins University, the state has reported deaths in the single digits since early June.