Home » Business » Because you would almost forget: these are (already) the benefits of vaccination | NOW

Because you would almost forget: these are (already) the benefits of vaccination | NOW

Although there has been a lot of work on vaccines recently, vaccination against COVID-19 is above all beneficial in the fight against the corona virus. We can already see the first (sometimes tentative) results. In the Netherlands, but much more in some other countries.

1. Vaccination largely protects against COVID-19 with symptoms

A person fully vaccinated against COVID-19 is largely protected from symptoms of the disease caused by the coronavirus. The chance that you will still develop corona symptoms, such as a runny nose, fever or breathing problems, is very small. We call this the effectiveness of a vaccine. This is, for example, about 95 percent for Pfizer and 94 percent for the vaccine from pharmaceutical company Moderna.

That means that the vaccine does not protect you 100 percent against corona symptoms. The effectiveness also says nothing about people who become infected after a vaccination, but do not have any symptoms.

We do not yet really know what effect vaccination has in practice in the Netherlands. However, first impressions look promising. In the United States, for example, 77 million people have been vaccinated in the past four months. To date, 5,800 of them have been proven to be infected. That is 0.007 percent of the vaccinees, or 1 in 13,000. Of course, this number can and will increase somewhat as long as the virus is not fully under control in the US.

2. Fewer deaths (especially in the elderly)

The virus strikes hardest in the elderly and other vulnerable. They usually become sicker than younger people, end up in hospital much more often and die much more often. That is why almost all countries started vaccinating the elderly. This also applies to the Netherlands.

In our country, most nursing home residents and mobile over-80s living at home have had at least one shot against the virus. It is now the turn of the seventies and sixties.

That the vaccine works is already reflected in the number of corona-related deaths. This has decreased, especially in nursing homes: where more than 50 deaths per day were reported at the end of last year, there are now about one or two.

Number of deceased residents of nursing homes


3. Fewer hospital admissions for the elderly

We already cautiously see the consequences of vaccination in the number of hospital and IC admissions – with the emphasis on caution, because only (most) 80+ people have already been fully vaccinated. And not all of them ended up in intensive care. They often died outside the hospital from the effects of the virus, for example because they did not want to be admitted to the ICU. The chance that you will be completely healthy again at that age is small.

Nevertheless, the vaccinations can already be seen in the hospital figures. In February almost a quarter of the admitted persons were older than eighty, now that is 15 percent.

Now that people in their seventies and sixties are also being vaccinated (who more often than eighty-somethings end up in hospital, because treatment is more promising for them), this will soon make an even bigger difference in hospitals. It is therefore quieter in the corona departments.

4. Less pressure on healthcare means more relaxation

This decreasing pressure on healthcare means that more relaxation will be possible soon. After all, we no longer have to fear a shortage of hospital beds. This can already be seen in England and Israel, among others, which recently implemented large-scale easing.

For example, vaccination leader Israel decided at the end of February, after almost half of the population had had at least one injection, to fully open shops, museums and markets, among other things. This is subject to the condition that someone has a ‘green passport’ (proof that someone has been vaccinated or has been cured of a previous infection).

Punctures are also fast in the United Kingdom. About 32 million Britons (almost half of the total population) have now received a first shot against the corona virus. Eight million of them have already received a second dose.

This translates into the number of hospital admissions in the United Kingdom: at the beginning of January there were about four thousand, now about two hundred corona patients are admitted every day. Due to the reduced pressure on healthcare, England already dared to implement easing. Last weekend, among other things, the pubs opened again.

In the Netherlands, the time has not yet come: the corona figures are still too high for that at the moment. On Tuesday, the caretaker cabinet presented a openingsplan containing the steps with which the country returns to a normal life.

Number of hospital admissions per day in the United Kingdom


5. The effect on preventing further spread also seems positive

An important question at the moment is: can vaccinated people still spread the virus (without realizing it themselves)? We know that vaccination reduces the chance that you will spread the coronavirus, but not yet how much smaller that chance is.

That that chance is smaller is good news, because then the non-vaccinated people would also indirectly benefit from the vaccine. The more people are vaccinated, the less likely that unvaccinated people could become infected.

Larger studies conducted in different environments can probably say something about this. Until more is known, the RIVM also advises vaccinated people to adhere to the corona measures.

– .

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.