Elmhurst Stats Show Vaccine Not A 'Joke'

ELMHURST, IL — Donald Trump and Joe Biden agree on at least one thing: They support the coronavirus vaccine. Both say they have gotten the booster shot.

When Patch runs a story about the coronavirus, it is likely to draw comments from vaccine opponents. On Wednesday, one woman wrote, "The vaccine is a joke."

But the daily numbers from Elmhurst Hospital indicate that the vaccine is not a joke.

As of Wednesday, the hospital was treating 42 patients with confirmed cases of the coronavirus. Of them, 30 were unvaccinated and 10 vaccinated. Two were undetermined. Vaccinated patients make up a quarter of the total. These numbers are similar to what the hospital has been seeing for months.

If the vaccine were a joke, then the hospital would be treating far more fully vaccinated patients. That's because 72 percent of DuPage County residents are fully vaccinated, according to the county's health department.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, unvaccinated people are 14 times more likely to die from the coronavirus than those who are vaccinated.

Elmhurst Hospital's sister institution, Edward Hospital in Naperville, is seeing a similar trend. As of Wednesday, it was treating 53 coronavirus patients. Eleven, or about 20 percent, were vaccinated.