Unvaccinated patients make up majority of Alabama's COVID-19 patients in hospital ICUs
Brian Lyman- Unvaccinated people in ICUs tend to be younger, and with far fewer underlying conditions.
- There were 68 more patients than available ICU beds in the state on Wednesday.
The unvaccinated dominate the state's struggling intensive care units. And there are striking contrasts with the few vaccinated people in ICUs.
Hospitals say the small number of vaccinated people who get infected and develop illness already face high risks, because of their age or medical conditions that could make them immunocompromised. By comparison, unvaccinated people in ICUs tend to be younger, and with far fewer underlying conditions.
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“It seems that folks who are vaccinated and yet develop illness are those you would predict are more likely to get sick,” said Dr. Scott Harris, the State Health Officer for Alabama.
The contrasts are particularly striking at the University of Alabama Birmingham. On Wednesday, UAB said 61 of 66 patients (92%) in intensive care for COVID were unvaccinated. 47 of 51 patients on ventilators (92%) were also unvaccinated.
Russell Griffin, a professor of epidemiology at UAB who has studied patients hospitalized for COVID, said the average age of vaccinated patients in ICUs there is 68. For the unvaccinated, it’s 50.
In addition, Griffin said, half the vaccinated people in ICUs for COVID are immunocompromised, because of organ transplants or chemotherapies. By comparison, the unvaccinated population that ends up in ICU generally lacks comorbidities, or the presence of two or more medical conditions.
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“There have been no deaths under the age of 65 in the vaccinated population at UAB,” he said.
At East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika, 80% to 85% of those in the ICUs for COVID are unvaccinated, John Atkinson, a spokesman for EAMC, wrote in an email. Over the last three weeks, the average age of vaccinated people in ICUs in Alabama is 64½ years old, while the average age of unvaccinated patients is 55½.
“Vaccination makes a difference in hospital stays overall, meaning that vaccinated individuals who have a breakthrough case tend to have less severe cases and often do not require a stay in the ICU,” Atkinson wrote. “Most COVID patients right now — in this delta variant peak — who end up requiring ICU care need ventilation, and recovery is difficult for any patient once it reaches that point.”
On Wednesday, Alabama's hospitals had 2,724 people with COVID-19, according to the Alabama Hospital Association. There were 68 more patients than available ICU beds in the state that day. Negative ICU capacity does not mean patients are turned away, but it means they must be treated in places not normally used for ICUs.
After a surge earlier this summer, the jump in hospitalizations has slowed, but hospital staff and resources are both still taxed due to the high number of patients. A recent state survey found the state's hospitals reported a need of about 500 nurses. The state is trying to allocate COVID-19 relief money to hire about 250 nurses on eight-week contracts to address the crisis.
The strain is hurting hospitals. Three federal teams have deployed to Alabama to assist staff in hospitals in the southern part of the state. EAMC, which has about 30 ICU beds in two different units, opened a third in August amid the surge. But demand for beds has often exceeded capacity. Atkinson said they had up to 39 ICU patients this week. On Saturday, the hospital recorded 94 COVID hospitalizations and 23 ventilators in use, an all-time high.
“At times, we have had to hold multiple patients in our emergency department for 24 hours or more because they were waiting for an ICU bed to become available,” Atkinson wrote.
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Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Brian Lyman at 334-240-0185 or blyman@gannett.com.