There are already plenty of scientific studies on the effectiveness of the vaccination, but this is the first time that this is available for Austria. Result: The Covid-19 vaccination protects around 95 percent against admission to hospital after a SARS-CoV-2 infection, as Daniela Schmid, specialist in epidemiology from the Ages (Agency for Health and Food Safety). Even with infections, the proportion of partially or fully vaccinated people is significantly lower than that of unvaccinated people. The Ages epidemiologists carried out the investigation.
Overall, the vaccines in the 18 to 59 year old age group protected 95.53 percent of those who were completely immunized compared to those who were not vaccinated against such a severe course of the infection that they had to be admitted to the hospital. The protection rates for AstraZeneca, Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines were extremely high. Here they were more than 94 percent to almost 99 percent. The Janssen-Cilag vaccine (Johnson & Johnson; single vaccination) was slightly lower in this age group at around 84 percent.
The protection rates against serious disease progression were similarly high among those over 60: 94.18 percent for all fully vaccinated compared to unvaccinated (AstraZeneca, Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines: between 93 and 99 percent). Here, too, the effect of the fourth vaccine (Janssen-Cilag / J & J) was somewhat weaker with a vaccination of around 86 percent.
The study results agree with countless international studies from other countries. They also correspond to what doctors in the intensive care units report. For the Austrian experts, however, the study is above all evidence from daily practice of the enormous importance of the Covid 19 vaccination – both for individuals and for society. This is particularly evident in the prevention of serious illnesses with admission to hospital and the resulting deaths, but not only there.
The effect is also evident in all SARS-CoV-2 infections, as Daniela Schmid shows: From November 8 to November 21, 2021, i.e. already in the “fourth wave”, unvaccinated people in Austria had a 14-day incidence of 3709.52 cases per 100,000 residents. Inadequately protected by vaccination (eg only one partial vaccination) had an incidence of 823.64 infections per 100,000 in the two weeks. Fully Protected had an incidence of only 554.46 infections per 100,000 people.
However, only immunization through three partial vaccinations leads to complete protection: “All good things come in threes,” said the Viennese infectious agent Florian Thalhammer (MedUni Vienna). “We need three immunological stimuli” – i.e. three partial vaccinations or, for example, a survived Covid-19 infection and then two vaccinations. The positive effect of the third Covid 19 vaccination, which is now taking place, can already be seen in the statistics, as Daniela Schmid emphasizes. In the past few days there have already been indications of a certain trend reversal in the fourth wave of the pandemic in Austria.
In order to determine the effect of the vaccination on illnesses and hospital stays, all illness, vaccination and hospital data relating to Covid-19 for the two federal states of Vienna and Vorarlberg were linked for the investigation. The data cover the period from July 5 to September 5, 2021, during which the delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 was responsible for de facto all infections with the Covid-19 pathogens. The hospitalized Covid-19 patients were evaluated according to vaccination status, age group and the vaccines used. (APA / Red)
