This was the result of a study by the World Health Organization (WHO) Respiratory Disease Surveillance Network. The work shows once again: “It becomes critical from the age of 60”, and from the age of 80 the vaccination is “essential”, wrote the molecular biologist Martin Moder on Wednesday on the X platform. Most of the prevented deaths occurred after the third dose.
The research results were published on a preprint server, which means they have not yet been published in a specialist journal and reviewed by other scientists. The researcher and “Science Buster” Moder described it on X (formerly Twitter) as a “very good, current study” on lives directly saved by vaccination.
“Real numbers are well above these values”
Indirectly avoided deaths, for example through reduced hospital utilization, are not taken into account. In addition, data from some large European countries such as Poland and Turkey are missing. “The real figures for Europe are likely to be significantly higher than these values,” emphasized Moder. In addition, SARS-CoV-2 continues to circulate even after the end of the investigation period.
The effects of the Covid-19 vaccination in adults were examined according to age group, vaccination dose and period of variant circulation, the study authors note. Real data reported by 34 countries and territories in the WHO European Region were used. The researchers estimated that the corona vaccination programs in the population aged 25 and over were associated with a 57 percent reduction in deaths.
Especially people aged 60 and over saved
96 percent of the deaths prevented in Europe affected people aged 60 and over. The third vaccination saved the most lives in Europe, around 721,000. Most deaths were avoided in the predominant phase of the omicron variant (67 percent). “Our results underline the importance of maintaining Covid-19 vaccination protection, especially in older population groups,” emphasized the researchers. Vaccination campaigns should emphasize the value of vaccination in saving lives.
According to the study, the 25,000 lives saved in Austria by the end of March 2023 were compared to around 22,300 reported deaths up to that point. According to the WHO calculations, without protection through vaccination there would have been more than twice as many corona deaths in this country.
Vaccination: Rarely serious side effects
With more than 21 million Covid vaccinations administered in Austria so far, serious side effects have rarely been recorded. The Federal Office for Safety in Health Care (BASG) recorded, among other things, two suspected deaths due to vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia. By the end of 2023, a total of 2,251 cases relating to the Covid vaccination had been claimed via the Vaccine Damage Act, the Ministry of Health said on Wednesday in response to an APA request. In addition to thrombosis, this also included myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle), pericarditis (inflammation of the heart bag), Guillain-Barre syndrome, embolisms and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).
So far, 846 applications have been rejected and 340 have been approved; 1,065 procedures were still open at the beginning of the year, explained the office of Health Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens). Of the 340 awards, there were 281 flat-rate compensation (one-off payments) between 1,305.50 and 8,683 euros. On average, around 1,900 euros were paid out. On average, around 560 euros were paid out in pension benefits per month (including special payments), and 26 pension benefits were awarded permanently.
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