Vaccines provide more reliable protection against SARS-CoV-2 and with fewer risks attached compared to infection. But as with any other vaccine, they aren’t 100% effective, therefore vaccinated people remain at risk of infection when there is a high level of virus transmission in the community. The high level of transmission is primarily due to unvaccinated people in the community, who are more likely to be infected and therefore transmit the virus to others. They represent the majority of COVID-19 related hospitalization and deaths. At the same time, by fostering the transmission and replication of the virus, unvaccinated people increase the likelihood that new variants emerge.