Vaccination against coronavirus has halved Italy's death toll, reveals study

Due to Covid-19 emergence in the country in February 2020, Italy had reported nearly 161,032 deaths, the second-highest toll in the European region after Britain.

Team Newsable

Milan, First Published Apr 13, 2022, 4:40 PM IST | Last Updated Apr 13, 2022, 4:40 PM IST

Covid-19 vaccines have nearly halved the death toll in Italy, averting almost 150,000 deaths and 8 million cases last year, the National Health Institute (ISS) assessed on Wednesday.

The ISS examination commenced from the beginning of 2021 until the end of January 2022, revealing the inoculation campaign also averted nearly 500,000 hospitalisations and around 55,000 admissions to intensive care.

Due to Covid-19 emergence in the country in February 2020, Italy reported nearly 161,032 deaths, the second-highest toll in the European country after Britain and the eighth highest in the world. To date, the country has reported 15.4 million cases.

Nearly 79 per cent of Italians have been fully vaccinated, and 65 per cent received booster shots, as per the Our World in Data.

The ISS study revealed that 72 per cent of lives saved due to vaccination were those aged 80 and nearly 19 per cent were in the 70-79 age group. About 7 per cent were aged 60-69, and 3 per cent were under 60 years.

The results were estimated using data on vaccine effectiveness and weekly vaccination numbers to examine their impact on the weekly total of cases, hospitalisations, ICU admissions, and fatalities.

The methodology was initially created for flu vaccines but has previously been used in other countries for SARS-CoV-2 research, according to the public body in its statement.

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