Elderly and men “likely to suffer” with COVID-19 even after two jabs: UK report

Elderly people, men, and people of ethnic background are more likely to eventually be hospitalized or die, even after being double vaccinated against COVID-19, according to researchers. Become.

Scientists have used various data to show that while the risk of severe COVID-19 after vaccination remains low, some people are at higher risk than others.

They include the elderly and those from India and Pakistan.

People with a lack of background, immunosuppression, people living in long-term care facilities, people with chronic diseases such as Down’s disease, kidney disease, sickle cell disease, HIV / AIDS, and liver cirrhosis are also at risk. It will be higher.

The tools developed by the researchers predict those who are at greatest risk of severe COVID-19 results from 14 days or more after the second vaccination, where substantial immunity is expected to develop.

They hope that it will help patients work with their doctors to make decisions about ongoing shields and inform them about booster jabs and COVID-19 treatment policies.

Oxford University scientists used national datasets for GP surgery, immunization, and COVID testing, as well as mortality and hospitalization data.

A sample of more than 6.9 million vaccinated adults was analyzed, of which 5.2 million received both doses. This represents the entire UK population.

The sample included 2,031 COVID-19 deaths and 1,929 COVID-related hospitalizations, of which 81 deaths and 71 hospitalizations occurred more than 14 days after the second vaccination.

Based on this, researchers calculated risk by measuring including age, gender, ethnicity, and background rate of COVID infection.

Professor Aziz Sheikh of the University of Edinburgh and co-author of the treatise commented on why the risk of other ethnic groups was low, noting that it could be due to social reasons.

He states: “The fact that some of the ethnic differences are diminishing suggests that much of this was socially patterned and probably due to factors such as occupational risk considerations. think.

“In the two remaining subgroups, I think this is speculative, but since these groups (Indians and Pakistanis) tend to be slightly larger in household size, such intra-household communication May have been done. “

According to a paper published in the British Medical Journal, researchers did not distinguish between the types of vaccination provided.

This study may also be limited by factors such as exposure to COVID-19, as background information such as occupation is often not recorded in general practice or hospital records.

Nina Massey

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