Why Palm Beach County seniors fought COVID better than most in Florida in 2023

COVID-19 killed Palm Beach County seniors less often than elderly residents in most Florida counties in 2023, in big part thanks to vaccines, a Palm Beach Post analysis of state and federal data shows.

The county’s COVID fatality rate among residents older than age 65 was lower than 49 of Florida’s 67 counties. And its overall death rate was lower than that of 39 counties. Palm Beach County’s seniors have done a better job than most Floridians of protecting themselves by getting the latest coronavirus vaccines.

For every 100,000 seniors in Palm Beach County, COVID killed about 153, a comparison of 2023 Florida Department of Health data and 2022 U.S. Census Bureau population estimates, the latest available, show. The state average was 158 elders per 100,000.

Palm Beach County’s senior death rate was lower than that of all of Florida’s big urban counties except Broward, where COVID killed 151 seniors for every 100,000.

In Palm Beach County, 559 of the 604 victims in 2023 were 65 or older. And 7,571 of Florida’s 8,403 fatalities were seniors. COVID ravages older adults the most.

Fewer elderly people died in counties with the most vaccinated seniors

Counties with the most-vaccinated seniors suffered fewer elderly COVID deaths.

An estimated 26% of Palm Beach County seniors got the shots in 2023 — the 11th highest rate in Florida — compared with 22% of seniors statewide.

"The only patients I'm seeing in the hospital are the ones who do not have the latest booster, but they're not very sick," said Wellington Regional Medical Center infectious disease specialist Dr. Larry Bush, former president of the Palm Beach County Medical Society.

COVID killed an average of 201 elderly people per 100,000 in the 39 counties where the share of seniors immunized was lower than the statewide level.

The average fatality rate was 17% lower in counties where elderly vaccination rates were higher than the state average.

"The biggest instigator of getting a vaccine is discussing it with your healthcare provider," Bush said. When Bush discusses inoculation with his patients, he said: "They ask if I should get it. I say, 'Yes.' The next question they ask me is, 'Well did you get it?' I say, 'Yes.'"

If you're vaccinated and get COVID, you might not have any symptoms

People who tested positive for COVID and had gotten the latest vaccine were 54% less likely to experience any symptoms than those without the updated shots, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Thursday. Blood analysis has shown that the latest coronavirus variant, JN.1, was "neutralized" in people who got the latest shots, the World Health Organization reported in December.

In 2023, COVID killed 40 people in Palm Beach County for every 100,000 residents, the 28^th lowest overall death rate in Florida. The statewide fatality level was 38 per 100,000.

About 10% of all Palm Beach County residents got a vaccine in 2023, the 14^th highest rate in the state, and the best in South Florida. Seniors accounted for about 64% of the nearly 150,000 shots countywide that state health officials logged in 2023.

More: Florida's seniors lead nation in COVID deaths since April 2021

About 54% of the 1.96 million shots administered statewide last year went to seniors.

The state Health Department did not respond to comment asking what analysis it has done or studies it has relied on to determine the effectiveness of the latest vaccine at warding off severe illness among the elderly.

The department’s leader, Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, has called for a halt in the use of vaccines such as Pfizer’s and Moderna’s. He also published false information in 2022 claiming younger male vaccine recipients suffered heart attacks at higher rates than those who went unvaccinated.

Gov. Ron DeSantis urged Florida’s elderly in early 2021 to get inoculated, then turned anti-vaccine later that year, eventually claiming with no proof that the vaccines do not work. A Post analysis in 2022 found that COVID killed more seniors in Florida than in any other state since the shots became widely available.

Some chapters of the Republican Party of Florida, such as Lee County's, have called on DeSantis and state lawmakers to ban the shots statewide. The Republican Party of Palm Beach County has not.

The Florida Department of Health counts a vaccination just once during a year in the report The Post analyzed. If someone got two shots last year, they were counted once for 2023.

Previously: DeSantis health officials release numbers on Palm Beach County COVID deaths after lawsuit

The department has been publishing statistics since October showing how many residents each county and across the state have died with COVID, been vaccinated or tested positive.

It was forced to release the numbers after settling a lawsuit in September with former state Rep. Carlos Guillermos Smith, a Democrat from Orange County. He sued in 2021 when the state wouldn’t give him the data, telling him they didn’t have it. The USA TODAY Network, which owns The Post and other Florida newspapers, joined that lawsuit.

"The vaccine did what it was supposed to do, prevent severe disease and death." said Bush, a Palm Beach County infectious disease specialist.

Chris Persaud is The Palm Beach Post's data reporter. Send tips to cpersaud@pbpost.com

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Senior COVID death rate lower in Palm Beach County vs. most of Florida