Data from the United States show the impact of vaccination rates on illness severity. Portugal and Denmark demonstrate how the epidemic may be ended.
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| [COVID-19 in USA] |
With a greater incidence of corona vaccine, over half of the hospitalizations in the United States this winter may have been avoided. This is according to a Financial Times research, which compared the US quota to vaccine pioneers in Europe, such as Portugal and Denmark.
According to the data, there are much more patients in US hospitals than in European nations, owing to the fact that there are significantly more people who are not or just partially vaccinated. In countries with high immunisation rates, such as Portugal or Denmark, the number of hospitalizations is quite low.
According to the research, instead of the approximately 160,000 hospitalised persons in the United States in mid-January, with a vaccination rate comparable to Denmark, the figure may have been as low as 90,000 people. With a vaccination rate similar to that of Portugal, instead of an average of about 80,000 daily corona patients since July 2021, it may only have been around 40,000.
Portugal had a rate of 90 percent of those who had been vaccinated twice at the end of January, while Denmark had a rate of 81 percent. While over 76 percent of individuals in Germany have been vaccinated twice, just 64 percent of people in the United States have been vaccinated twice. In terms of second vaccines and boosters, the bulk of Europe has much higher rates.
When it comes to booster immunizations, Denmark leads with 61%, Portugal has 50%, and Germany has a bit more. The United States, on the other hand, has a rate of less than 30% for prescribed booster doses. "If the world had Portuguese vaccination quotas, we would be much closer to the end of the epidemic," says Jaime Correia de Sousa, a medical professor in Braga, Portugal.
Official records, including those for Germany, show a link between vaccination rates and severe infections. Intensive care bed occupancy surged in mid-December when the omicron wave began. According to statistics from Our World in Data, about 60 patients per million people were treated in German intensive care units.
In the United States, the figure peaked two weeks ago, with as many as 80 intensive care patients per million people. In Denmark, where the booster rate is greatest, there were never more than 14 intensive care patients per million people, but in Portugal there was a maximum of 17.
People who do not get vaccinated are to fault, according to a virologist.
Despite the fact that the number of infected persons in Denmark and Portugal was and continues to be much larger than in the United States and Germany. In the Federal Republic, the number of confirmed cases per 100,000 people in the last seven days has been approximately 1,300, and the trend is upward. In the United States, the seven-day incidence is presently back below 1000.
In Portugal and Denmark, where the number of corona patients in hospitals is lower, the incidence is 3800 (Portugal) and 5300 (Denmark), respectively (Denmark). Due to the excellent vaccination rate, even corona limitations were withdrawn in Denmark on Tuesday.
People who do not get vaccinated are to blame for the illnesses and deaths of many middle-aged persons, according to Peter Hotez, a virology professor in Houston. According to Hotez, these people are overburdening hospitals with a high number of patients whose terrible illnesses could have easily been avoided with immunisation.
The counter-argument that the omicron variety is milder than delta and less harmful for unvaccinated persons is frequent. However, this contradicts a recent French research. This study looked at the likelihood of intensive care hospitalizations.
According to the study, a 70-year-old unvaccinated individual is still twice as likely as a 40-year-old unvaccinated person to get Omicron.
According to the study, if a 70-year-old takes two doses of the vaccine, his risk is decreased to that of a 40-year-old who has not been vaccinated. If the 70-year-old gets boosted, the 40-year-old who has not been vaccinated faces a threefold increase in the danger of being gravely sick.
"The fact is, an 80-year-old who is boosted and becomes infected usually just gets a cold," said Philipp Coule, an emergency medical professor in Georgia. "However, a 50-year-old unvaccinated individual who is somewhat overweight, has blood pressure or diabetic problems, and ends up in the intensive care unit."
This corresponds to CDC data: Adults in the United States who had not been vaccinated had a 16-fold greater chance of being hospitalised in December than those who had been immunised at least twice. With a booster immunisation, the probability of hospitalisation reduced 46-fold in the populous, susceptible age range of 50 to 64 years.