Report produced by the laboratory reaffirms importance of immunization to save lives

More than 2 thousand lives could have been saved, only in Rio Grande do Norte, with the immunization of people with comorbidities. These are some of the data surveyed and analyzed by researchers at the Technological Innovation in Health Laboratory (LAIS/UFRN), based on information from January 19, 2021, the date of the start of immunization in RN against covid-19.

Among patients with any type of comorbidity who have not been vaccinated or have not completed the vaccination scheme, the rates of deaths and hospitalizations are significant. In the cases of deaths, the percentage exceeds 94%, and 70.58% were not immunized.

Vaccination also makes a difference among people who do not have comorbidities, since Rio Grande do Norte recorded, during the whole period, a total of 176 deaths among people who were not vaccinated or who took only the first dose of the immunization. In percentages, these numbers mean 86.70% of lives lost. The percentage of hospitalized people, also unvaccinated, is similar, exceeding 84%.

According to LAIS executive director, Professor Ricardo Valentim, the survey confirms that there is a higher number of covid-19 deaths among individuals with comorbidities, but those who are vaccinated were more protected by more than 70% in relation to those who were not vaccinated. “This means that if all people hospitalized with comorbidities, in covid-19 ICU, were fully vaccinated, RN would possibly have 2122 fewer deaths today.”

Below is some of the data surveyed by the researchers:

General information

Total recorded admissions: 9063 (in some cases, the same patient can be counted twice, with transfer between clinical and critical care beds)
Total deaths recorded: 3208
Total hospitalizations not vaccinated or with only one dose: 7701 (84.74%)
Total deaths among unvaccinated: 2265 (86%)

Individuals with comorbidities

Total deaths among people with comorbidities: 3032 (94.51%)
Total deaths among non-vaccinated individuals with comorbidities: 2140 (70.58%)
Total deaths among vaccinated individuals with comorbidities: 892 (29.42%)

Individuals without comorbidities

Total deaths among individuals without comorbidities: 203
Total deaths among vaccinated individuals without comorbidities with D2: 27 (13.30%)
Total deaths among non-vaccinated individuals without comorbidities or who had only taken D1: 176 (86.70%)