Mass. reports 131 total breakthrough COVID-19 deaths as of Aug. 21, or 0.003 percent of all fully vaccinated people

A Covid-19 vaccine was administered at the Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center vaccine site at Prince Hall Grand Lodge in Dorchester.Christiana Botic for The Boston Globe

As of last Saturday, 131 people in Massachusetts who had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 had died from the disease, the Department of Public Health reported Tuesday, representing a tiny fraction of all vaccinated people and underscoring the protection the vaccines provide against severe illness and death.

The deaths accounted for 0.003 percent of the 4,449,267 people in Massachusetts who were fully vaccinated as of Saturday, the department said in its weekly update on breakthrough COVID-19 metrics.

The number marks an increase of seven deaths from last week, when the state reported that 124 fully vaccinated people had died as a result of the virus as of Aug. 14.

The department also said there had been 15,739 total breakthrough cases among fully vaccinated people in Massachusetts, or 0.35 percent of the total. That marks an increase of 3,069 cases among fully vaccinated people from the previous week.

The department also reported 571 hospitalizations as of Saturday, or 0.01 percent of all fully vaccinated people.

State officials and public health experts have repeatedly stressed that vaccination greatly reduces hospitalization, severe illness, and death as a result of COVID-19.

As of Tuesday, 4,461,023 people in Massachusetts have been fully vaccinated, according to the department.