The state of Pennsylvania has witnessed a rise in the proportion of coronavirus infections and hospitalisations among vaccinated residents, although shot remains broadly protective.

The latest Department of Health statistics on so-called “breakthrough” infections show from September 5 to October 4, vaccinated people represented just over a quarter (26%) of more than 135,000 new infections and nearly 5,000 hospital admissions across the state. 

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The numbers are up from just 6% of cases and 5% of hospitalisations between January and September. Pennsylvania residents who remain unvaccinated are still far more likely to contract the coronavirus, become hospitalised and die than those who got the shot. 

Following the report, Dr Denise Johnson, the state’s acting physician general, said the data reinforced the case for booster shots. 

Last month, the FDA authorized booster shots of Pfizer’s vaccine for older Americans and other groups with heightened vulnerability to COVID-19. It’s part of a sweeping effort by the Biden administration to shore up protection amid the delta variant and potential waning vaccine immunity.

Johnson & Johnson has also asked the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday to allow booster shots of its COVID-19 vaccine.

Earlier, after the September report, state health officials had said, the relative scarcity of milder breakthrough cases among residents who got the vaccine shows the shots are working.

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Government advisers backed the extra Pfizer shots, but they also worried about creating confusion for tens of millions of other Americans who received the Moderna and J&J shots. US officials don’t recommend mixing and matching different vaccine brands.

Top GOP lawmakers had requested the data on breakthroughs. The Republicans, who have been sceptical of Governor Tom Wolf’s pandemic measures — including his statewide mask mandate for schools — had written to Wolf earlier that “all Pennsylvanians, both vaccinated and unvaccinated, deserve to know how their respective group is performing.”