The authors from the WHO Regional Office for Europe and ECDC estimated the number of deaths among adults aged 60 years and older in 33 countries in the European Region that would have happened without any vaccines, using the actual weekly reported death counts. I attribute this, without doubt, to the fact that I had been doubly vaccinated,” says Frank Durrant. The symptoms were so mild that were it not for a positive test I would have considered myself to have been fully fit. “Having received my second vaccination, I caught COVID-19 following an extended time spent in close contact with a friend who had the virus. Sadly, I lost a very dear, very fit friend who died of the virus before the vaccine was available. I feel quite sure that being double vaccinated saved me from being much more seriously affected. After receiving their second COVID-19 vaccination they caught the virus but made speedy recoveries.īarbara Durrant says, “I contracted COVID-19 approximately five weeks ago and suffered only a mild cold and loss of taste for a couple of weeks. Husband and wife Frank and Barbara Durrant, aged 78 and 74, respectively, live in East Devon in the United Kingdom and have four grandchildren. The rapid development and administration of COVID-19 vaccines has provided much-needed protection from severe disease and death for millions of the most vulnerable, but the speed and extent of rollout of these vaccines across countries of the Region is inequitable. Since December 2019, over 1.5 million COVID-19 confirmed fatalities have been recorded in the countries of the WHO European Region, with 90.2% in those aged 60 years and over.
“But vaccines must be accompanied by a range of preventive measures to keep transmission levels low and keep society open.”
Countries with lower vaccination uptake rates must continue to prioritize those who are at highest risk and protect vulnerable groups as rapidly as possible. It is therefore critically important that all Member States in the European Region achieve high coverage for people in the at-risk groups as soon as possible. In some countries, the death toll would have been double what it is now without the vaccines. “The COVID-19 vaccines are a marvel of modern science, and what this research shows is that they’re doing what they promised, that is saving lives, offering very high protection against severe illness and death. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe says, “COVID-19 has exacted a devastating death toll in our region, but we can now categorically say that without COVID-19 vaccines as a tool to contain this pandemic, many more people would have died.
This estimate does not include lives saved by vaccinating people under 60 nor lives saved from the indirect effect of vaccination because of a reduction in transmission.ĭr Hans Henri P. A new study by the WHO Regional Office for Europe and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) published in Eurosurveillance estimates that 470 000 lives have been saved among those aged 60 years and over since the start of COVID-19 vaccination rollout in 33 countries across the WHO European Region.