The other important piece of information is that vaccinations were not given out homogeneously. The older and more vulnerable were vaccinated FIRST and at a hi

The other important piece of information is that vaccinations were not given out homogeneously. The older and more vulnerable were vaccinated FIRST and at a higher rate, so seeing more of them hospitalized now 6 months later with a variant is not unexpected. What it really means, is that those same patients would probably be in the morgue, not the hospital if it wasn't for the vaccine.