The European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC, for its acronym in English) has defended that vaccination campaigns against COVID-19 in autumn-winter for the elderly and other high-risk populations continue to be “key to reduce the impact” of the disease.
This has been pronounced by the ECDC through a statement after the position of the World Health Organization (WHO), which has stopped recommending annual reinforcements in the general population, although it does advise a dose between six and 12 months after the previous one in the elderly, immunosuppressed and health.
The European organization considers that, even today, countries must plan “a continued deployment” of vaccines during 2023 “to reduce the impact of COVID-19, and hospitalizations and mortality.” “Efforts must focus on the protection of the elderly and other vulnerable groups, such as people with underlying comorbidities and the immunosuppressed, regardless of their age,” they insist in this regard.
According to ECDC surveillance data, with each new wave of COVID-19 infection, people in older age groups are more likely to be hospitalized.
Although no clear seasonal pattern of virus circulation has emerged so far, the ECDC notes that “data show that the impact of the disease has been much greater during the autumn-winter period, corresponding to the traditional influenza season.”
Against this background, ECDC mathematical modeling indicates that a fall 2023 vaccination program with very high uptake of the vaccine targeting people aged 60 and over is expected to prevent “up to 32 per cent of hospitalizations related to COVID-19 throughout Europe”.
Furthermore, assuming very high uptake of the vaccine, the combination of a fall 2023 vaccination schedule for people 60 years and older with a spring 2023 vaccination campaign for people 80 years and older is expected to prevent up to 44 percent of hospitalizations.
In carrying out this mathematical modelling, ECDC experts have taken into account scientific information on a number of factors, including the decline in vaccine efficacy, the age groups targeted by the last booster campaign in autumn /winter 2022/23, as well as the epidemiological situation of 2022.
In any case, the European body has pointed out that national decisions “must be taken by the countries” and “adapted” to their own context.
