A new study from the OMS/Europe published in ‘The Lancet Respiratory Medicine’ confirms that covid vaccines saved more than 1.6 million of lives in Europe.
Without them, instead of the 2.2 million of deaths caused by the pandemic, would have been four. Most of those saved had 60 years or more, the group with the highest risk of severe illness and death from SARS-CoV-2, the research adds.
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The author of the study, Dr. Margaux Mesle, WHO/Europe, stressed that “the results are clear: vaccination against COVID-19 saves lives. Our findings remind us of the integral role that vaccines play in ensuring that people could recover their pre-pandemic lives in all their vital facets, in the job and in leisure. Without the huge vaccination effort, we would have seen many more livelihoods disrupted and families losing their most loved ones. vulnerable”.
The WHO/Europe study also points out that vaccination against the covid saved the most lives during the period in which the variant omicron was dominant, from December 2021 to March 2023.
Countries that implemented early vaccination programs covering large sections of the population, such as Belgium, Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Netherlands, Malta and the United Kingdom, benefited the most in terms of total number of lives saved.
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The OMS also warns that the virus has not disappeared. In fact, the percentage of patients with respiratory disease who have SARS-CoV-2 in Primary Care has multiplied by five in the last eight weeks, and the percentage of hospitalized patients with covid has also increased.
While the absolute number of cases is lower than the winter wave, which peaked in December 2023, infections by covid In Europe this summer they continue to cause hospitalizations and deaths.
The increase in the number of cases reported this summer could be explained by travel vacation, mass gathering events, such as major sporting tournaments and music festivals, and lower competition from co-circulating respiratory diseases, concludes the OMS.
Unlike seasonal flu, the influenza virus covid circulates throughout the year. Until this pattern changes, the WHO warns that “Europe could experience multiple waves of infection each year, putting strain on health care systems and would increase the chances of people getting sick, especially the most vulnerable.”
