By Anjali Sharma
UNITED NATIONS – World health agency on Wednesday in a new research published showed that even as the pandemic has officially ended but up-to-date vaccination remains the most effective way to prevent severe COVID-19 illness.
WHO said that although COVID-19 no longer causes the widespread disruption seen during the global health emergency, the virus continues to hospitalize and kill people across Europe and neighboring regions.
WHO Regional Office for Europe studies confirmed that people who receive timely booster doses are far less likely to develop severe disease, require intensive care or die.
The findings are based on data from the European Severe Acute Respiratory Infection Vaccine Effectiveness network, which monitors respiratory infections in hospitals across parts of Europe, the Balkans, the South Caucasus and Central Asia.
Mark Katz, a medical epidemiologist at the WHO regional office said “The studies highlight that while COVID-19 is not leading to the widespread disease we saw during the pandemic, it has still been causing a considerable number of hospitalizations and deaths.”
Some 4,000 patients were hospitalized with acute respiratory infections in countries covered by the network between May 2023 and April 2024.
UN agency asserted that almost 10% of those cases were caused by COVID-19, despite the pandemic having been declared over.
Only 3% had received a vaccine dose within the previous 12 months among patients hospitalized with COVID-19.
The consequences were often severe: 13 per cent of COVID-19 patients required admission to intensive care units, and 11% died, WHO stated.
Comparative research also showed that patients hospitalized with COVID-19 were more likely than those with influenza to need oxygen, intensive care or to succumb to the illness.
One Euro SAVE study found that an up-to-date COVID-19 vaccine received within the past 6 months was 72% effective to prevent hospitalization and 67% effective at preventing the most serious outcomes, including ICU admission and death.
WHO concluded that a separate multi-country analysis found vaccines reduced COVID-related hospitalizations by 60%.
