In just over two years COVID vaccination has saved more than a million lives in Europe, according to a new analysis.
This contrasts with the two million lives lost to the virus in the World Health Organization’s European region, a conference has been told.
WHO experts reported their findings to the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Copenhagen, Denmark.
According to the analysis by epidemiologist Dr Margaux Meslé, 96% of the lives saved were people over the age of 60 – and the first booster was the most effective, responsible for preventing 64% of these potential deaths.
The findings come from an analysis of weekly reports of deaths and vaccination rates in 26 countries between December 2020 and March 2023.
Dr Richard Pebody, from WHO Europe said: “We see from our research, the large numbers of lives saved by COVID-19 vaccines across Europe during the pandemic. However, too many people in vulnerable groups across the WHO European Region remain unvaccinated or partially vaccinated. We urge people who are eligible and who have not yet taken the vaccine to do so.”
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