Some elderly patients still succumb to Covid despite jabs, UK study finds
More than 500 elderly people developed Covid-19 symptoms severe enough for them to be hospitalised at least three weeks after vaccination, 113 of whom later died, according to the first detailed study of “vaccine failure” in the UK.
The research, commissioned by the government’s Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (Sage) and undertaken by the Isaric Coronavirus Clinical Characterisation Consortium, analysed 52,280 patients hospitalised from December 8 when the UK vaccine rollout began.
Patients who had been vaccinated more than three weeks previously — meaning they should have benefited from immune protection against Covid-19 — made up 1 per cent of the hospitalised sample. About one-fifth of this group died from the disease.
Professor Calum Semple of the University of Liverpool, Isaric co-lead, said: “This is real world data showing that the vaccines work but it is not unexpected that it also shows some vaccine failure — mostly in the frail elderly population.”
The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is also carrying out a broader survey of what it calls “vaccine breakthrough cases” of Covid-19 in the US. By April 20 it had received 7,157 reports of infections in people who had been fully vaccinated, including 2,078 hospitalisations and 88 deaths.
“Reported vaccination breakthrough cases will represent an undercount,” said CDC, because the data are incomplete and depend on voluntary reporting. “No vaccines are 100 per cent effective at preventing illness. There will be a small percentage of people who are fully vaccinated who still get sick, are hospitalised or die from Covid-19.”
Dr Annemarie Docherty of Edinburgh university, a co-author of the Isaric study, said: “We are talking about statistics but if it is your granny who was vaccinated and died later with Covid, it is a personal tragedy.”
Please note the FT has since changed both the headline and wording of this article to minimise its impact!