Initial assessment of the COVID-19 vaccination's impact on case numbers, hospitalisations and deaths in people aged 80 years and older, 15 EU/EEA countries, December 2020 to May 2021

• Published in: Euro surveillance : bulletin européen sur les maladies transmissibles 2021-12, Vol.26 (48), p.1
• Main Authors: Nicolay, Nathalie, Innocenti, Francesco, Beauté, Julien, Učakar, Veronika, Grgič Vitek, Marta, Poukka, Eero, Hannila-Handelberg, Tuula, Gauci, Charmaine, Melillo, Tanya, Georgakopoulou, Theano, Jarkovsky, Jiri, Slezak, Pavel, Delgado-Sanz, Concepción, Olmedo-Lucerón, Carmen, Suija, Heleene, Liausediene, Rasa, O'Lorcain, Piaras, Murphy, Niamh, Peralta-Santos, André, Casaca, Pedro, Gregoriou, Ioanna, Bundle, Nick, Spiteri, Gianfranco, Ravasi, Giovanni
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; COVID-19; COVID-19 Vaccines; Hospitalization; Humans; Immunization; Mortality; Older people; Rapid Communication; SARS-CoV-2; Vaccination
• ISSN: 1560-7917; 1025-496X; 1560-7917
• DOI: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2021.26.48.2101030

Prioritisation of elderly people in COVID-19 vaccination campaigns aimed at reducing severe outcomes in this group. Using EU/EEA surveillance and vaccination uptake, we estimated the risk ratio of case, hospitalisation and death notifications in people 80 years and older compared with 25-59-year-olds. Highest impact was observed for full vaccination uptake 80% or higher with reductions in notification rates of cases up to 65% (IRR: 0.35; 95% CI: 0.13-0.99), hospitalisations up to 78% (IRR: 0.22; 95% CI: 0.13-0.37) and deaths up to 84% (IRR: 0.16; 95% CI: 0.13-0.20).