The effects of COVID-19 vaccines have been so dramatic that elderly Israelis are currently taking about the same amount of ventilators as those under 50, researchers said Sunday.
In October, Israelis older than 70 who needed respiratory support had nearly six to one number among those in their 50s. But now, after intense vaccination among the elderly, the ratio is 1.07 to 1, respectively, according to a research team with several institutions.
Israel currently has 241 ventilated patients. This is especially a larger number than in October, but comes amid an unprecedented wave of infections that have had much higher disease rates and mortality rates than during previous increases.
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The researchers believe the data reflect the reduction in infection rates by the vaccine and the mitigation of the disease for those who do become infected but did not analyze the extent of each effect.
The data were compiled by a research team from Ben Gurion University, Shamir Medical Center and Maccabi Healthcare Services. Some of their research was published Friday in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s weekly report on diseases and deaths.
“The bottom line is that the vaccine appears to have an extensive protective effect against serious diseases, and that’s the main outcome,” Ben Gurion University epidemiologist Ehud Rinott told The Times of Israel.
He added that although the spread of the coronavirus is worrying, the numbers indicate that the concern that has motivated much of the fight against pandemics – namely the concern of widespread serious diseases among the elderly – is disappearing.
‘We must remember that the reason we are concerned about the coronavirus is not due to high infection rates or mild illness, but because it can lead to [patients] not being able to breathe on their own, ”said Rinott.
A coronavirus section in Galilee Medical Center (Ancho Gosh Jini Photo Agency via Galilee Medical Center)
The team’s article describes a sharp drop in the percentage of ventilated patients – mostly those on ventilator machines, but also those who receive breathing support in other ways – who are older than 70 compared to less than 50. The ratio was 5.8 to 1 in October, and when the paper was submitted in early February, it stands at 1.9 to 1.
As the article was prepared for publication, it dropped to a ratio of 1.07 to 1. Since the researchers wanted to contrast the oldest and youngest demographics, they did not analyze the age group 51 to 69.
Currently, about 87 percent of 70- to 79-year-olds are fully vaccinated, as are 82% of citizens 80 years and older.
A ventilator helps a COVID-19 patient to breathe in the Coronavirus unit at a hospital in Houston, on July 6, 2020. (AP Photo / David J. Phillip, File)
Rinott noted that the shift in ventilator needs occurred at the height of Israel’s third wave when the total number of ventilated people rose, when more under 50s began ventilating at the time vaccines came into effect among the elderly.
Rinott acknowledged that other factors, apart from vaccines, such as the emergence of the British variant and the effects of the closure, could influence the results, but that the vaccination factor should be considered very important.
He expressed the hope that the drop in ventilated cases among the overwhelmingly vaccinated 70-plus group of younger Israelis who are slower to vaccinate will inspire them to do so. He said this illustrates that the increase in a fan due to the coronavirus was increasingly an ‘avoidable danger’.
The report comes on the heels of other studies suggesting that vaccines are lowering infection rates and virus burden among those who do get the virus.
