COVID-19 scan for February 19, 2021

More than 20.5 million years of life lost during COVID-19

More than 20.5 million years of life may have been lost during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a Scientific reports study published yesterday. The study also reports that, compared to the median death rate from seasonal flu, deaths from COVID-19 can be two to nine times higher.

Researchers looked at mortality and life expectancy data in 81 countries through January 6, 2021, focusing on both COVID-related deaths and additional deaths. Analyzing 1,279,866 deaths, they found that 20,507,518 years of life were lost during the study period.

Although this figure averages around 16 years per death, years of life lost (YLL) have been unevenly distributed across age groups. People aged 55 to 75 carried 44.9% of the YLL, those under 55 30.2%, and those over 75 25%. The average age of death was 72.8 years, but the researchers note that in higher-income countries, more COVID deaths were in older groups than in low- and middle-income countries, where more than deaths were concentrated around the 55 and under age group.

In high-income countries with high COVID cases, COVID-related deaths were only a quarter to half of the YLL compared to those lost due to heart disease, a high cause of death. However, compared to transport accidents (a medium risk) and seasonal influenza (a similar risk), YLLs were 2 to 8 and 2 to 9 times higher, respectively. The researchers write that the results of this comparison and other studies varied due to the progression of the pandemic and socio-demographics; for example, in Latin America, deaths from COVID were equal to or twice as high as cardiovascular deaths.

Additionally, the data suggests that men lost 45% more years than women, prompting researchers to suggest that younger adult-centric mitigations and gender-specific mitigations would be warranted. Overall, they recommend further research as their study is only a snapshot and also does not address years lost due to a disability.
Feb 18 Sci representative to study

Study Finds First Dose of COVID Vaccine Reduces Risk of Illness by 30% to 85%

A single dose of Pfizer / BioNTech BNT162b2 COVID vaccine has been associated with a reduction in COVID levels from 30% to 75% in healthcare workers in the first month, with an even greater reduction in symptomatic infection, according to a retrospective cohort study of 9,109 Israeli healthcare workers.

The study, published in The Lancet yesterday, reported that between December 19, 2020 (start of vaccinations for Israeli health workers) and January 24, 2021, 170 health workers (1.9%) contracted COVID-19 infections. Of these, 89 workers (52.4%) were not vaccinated, 78 (45.9%) tested positive after receiving the first dose of vaccine and 3 (1.8%) were positive after receiving the vaccine. second dose. None of the infections were acquired in hospital, and of the 125 that could be traced, 87 were from the community, which researchers say was experiencing its third wave of COVID cases, peaking at 10,116 new ones. cases per day in mid-January.

As of January 24, 7,124 health workers (78.2%) had received the first dose and 6,037 (66.3%) had received the second, 84.6% of them receiving the second dose on days 21 or 22 after the first dose.

After adjusting for community spread, reductions in infection rate after the first dose of BNT162b2 were 30% (95% confidence interval [CI], 2 to 50) for days 1 to 14 after vaccination and 75% (95% CI, 72 to 84) for days 15 to 28 after vaccination. The incidence of cases decreased from 7.4 infections per 10,000 person-days in unvaccinated health workers to 5.5 and 3.0 during days 1-14 and days 15-28 after vaccination, respectively .

Reductions in the rate of symptomatic infection were even greater, with a 47% reduction observed during days 1 to 14 after vaccination and an 85% reduction observed in days 15 to 28 after the first dose (95 CI %, 17-66 and 71-92, respectively).

“Early reductions in COVID-19 rates allow the second dose to be delayed in countries facing vaccine shortages and limited resources, so as to allow higher population coverage with a single dose,” the researchers write. “Longer follow-up to assess the long-term efficacy of a single dose is needed to inform a second dose delay policy.”
Feb 18 The Lancet to study