Older people are being urged to become fully vaccinated against Covid as a world-first study shows thousands of hospital admissions and deaths in the UK could have been avoided if everyone had had all of their doses.
The rollout began strongly in the UK, with 90% of the population over the age of 12 vaccinated with at least one dose by January 2022. However, rates of subsequent doses fell sharply, a study shows, with less than half the population fully jabbed by June 2022.
Covid-19 continues to infect people of all ages across the UK, while the last date for those eligible to get their seasonal jab – which includes all adults aged 65 or over – is 31 January.
In the first study to involve the entire UK population of 67 million people, researchers found that by June 2022 only 44% of the population had had their recommended number of jabs and boosters.
More than 7,000 hospital admissions and deaths in the UK could have been avoided that summer alone if people had had all their Covid jabs, the study suggested. The research, led by Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) and the University of Edinburgh, was published in the Lancet.
“The research outcome is a powerful validation of the benefits of vaccination,” said Alan Keys of HDR UK, who sat on the steering group of the study and is a co-author on the paper.
The study looked at everyone in the UK aged five and over, with under-vaccination defined as not having had all doses for which they were eligible.
As of 1 June 2022, 45.7% of people in England were under-vaccinated, as were 49.8% of people in Northern Ireland, 34.2% in Scotland and 32.8% in Wales, the study found.
Researchers used mathematical modelling to find that 7,180 hospitalisations and deaths out of 40,393 Covid hospital admissions and deaths from 1 June to 30 September 2022 were avoidable had the UK population been fully vaccinated.
Of the 40,393 hospitalisations and deaths, 14,156 were in people who were under-vaccinated. While all age groups were affected, the majority were older people, researchers said.
Under-vaccinated people aged over 75 were more than twice as likely to suffer a severe Covid-19 outcome than those who were fully protected, the study found.
Those eligible for a seasonal Covid vaccine before the end of this month include all those aged 65 or over, those aged between six months and 64 years old who are at increased risk, and those living in a care home for older adults. Frontline health and social care workers, carers aged 16 to 64, and people aged 12 to 64 who live with someone with a weakened immune system are also eligible.
The highest rates of under-vaccination were found in younger people, men, those in areas of higher deprivation, and people of non-white ethnicity, the study found.
“Covid-19 vaccines save lives,” said Prof Sir Aziz Sheikh, the HDR UK research director and co-lead of the study. “As new variants emerge, this study will help to pinpoint groups of our society and areas of the country where public health campaigns should be focused and tailored for those communities.”
Researchers said the study – the largest of its type carried out in the UK and the first of its kind globally – represented a landmark advance for science.
It included virtually everyone in the UK and united NHS data that was stored and gathered differently depending on the country. Experts aim to extend this type of study to many other areas of medicine, such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, respiratory diseases, screening programmes and other vaccinations, such as for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
Prof Cathie Sudlow, the chief scientist at Health Data Research UK and director of the British Heart Foundation (BHF) Data Science Centre, said: “We believe that we could and should extend these approaches to many other areas of medicine, such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes to search for better understanding, prevention and treatment of disease.”
