According to researchers, nearly 90 percent of coronavirus deaths have occurred in countries with high levels of obesity – which now wants overweight people to be given preference for vaccinations.
Mortality rates were ten times higher in countries like the US where at least 50 percent of the total population is overweight, according to a World Health Organization-backed study released by the World Obesity Federation on Thursday.
‘[This] according to the Financial Times, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO’s Director General, should act as a wake – up call for governments worldwide. “The link between obesity and COVID-19 mortality is clear and compelling.”
Weight is believed to be the second largest predictor of serious diseases of the virus after age, according to the study, which represents medical professionals at 50 regional and national obesity associations.
For the report, researchers examined death rates from Johns Hopkins University and the WHO Global Health Observatory data that showed a total of 2.2 million of the 2.5 million deaths worldwide in countries with high levels of obesity.
According to the report, researchers found no examples of high COVID-19 mortality rates in countries where less than 40 percent of the population was overweight.
For example, Vietnam has the lowest coronavirus mortality rate in the world and the second lowest level of overweight people, with just 0.04 deaths per 100,000 due to COVID-19, with 18.3 percent of adults overweight, according to WHO data.
In contrast, the United Kingdom has the third highest COVID-19 mortality rate in the world and the fourth highest obesity, with 184 deaths per 100,000 and 63.7 percent of adults overweight.
The U.S. has seen about 152 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 and has a 68 percent obesity.
Tim Lobstein, senior policy adviser to the WOF and author of the report, called the increase in national mortality rates linked to obesity ‘dramatic’.
Meanwhile, according to a study released last month, Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine may be less effective in protecting obese people.
Researchers in Rome have found that obese people who receive two doses of the vaccine generate a weaker antibody response, according to a report on the pre-printed server Medrxiv.
The Guardian evaluated the effect of the vaccine on 248 health workers seven days after the final dose.
Researchers at the National Cancer Institute Regina Elena found that those considered obese – defined as a body mass index of more than 30 – produce about half the amount of antibodies compared to people with a healthy body weight, reports the Guardian.
It is currently not known what level of antibodies are needed to neutralize the virus, but experts fear that a reduced antibody response could hinder vaccination.