Written By: Longjam Dineshwori | Updated : September 21, 2021 5:05 PM IST
Vaccines are seen as an important tool for ending the COVID-19 pandemic. Although none of the approved COVID-19 vaccines is 100% protective, they are known to provide a high degree of protection against getting seriously ill and dying from the disease. However, some people are at greater risk of developing severe COVID-19, even after they have received full doses of the vaccine. Researchers from the University of Oxford have identified those who are at greatest risk of Covid-19 hospitalisation and death post the second dose vaccination. Read on to find out if you're at risk too.
For the study, the researchers analysed a sample of over 6.9 million vaccinated UK adults, of whom 5.2 million had both vaccines doses. This sample included 2,031 Covid-19 deaths and 1,929 Covid-19 related hospital admissions, some of which of occurred 14 or more days after the second vaccine dose, when substantial immunity should be expected.
Then, the researchers looked at cumulative risk scores to calculate people's risk of hospitalisation or death from Covid-19 after one or two vaccine doses. Particularly, they found an elevated risk in:
However, the study highlighted that a small minority of people remain at risk of Covid-19 hospitalisation and death after receiving the second dose of any vaccine.
In a paper published in the British Medical Journal, the researchers stated that they are able to identify groups more at risk of hospitalization or death from COVID-19 by updating the QCovid tool.
This new tool can help identify which patients are at highest risk of serious Covid-19 outcomes despite vaccination for targeted intervention such as vaccine booster doses or new treatments such as monoclonal antibodies, they added.
Co-author of the paper Julia Hippisley-Cox, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and General Practice at the University of Oxford, asserted that this new tool will also inform doctors and patients about the level of risk to aid shared decision making and more personalised risk assessment.
The researchers concluded that these data could be used to identify those more likely to be at risk of COVID-19 hospitalization and death, and prioritise those identified for further trials of vaccines, boosters or future preventative therapies.
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