Regardless of their age, Quebecers are much less likely to die from COVID-19 if they are vaccinated than if they are not, indicate data from the Ministry of Health and Social Services.
Between October 18 and November 15, 98 people died from COVID-19 in Quebec. Among those aged 30 to 69, the daily death rate per million population was 0.04 for those vaccinated, compared with 1.7 for those who were not vaccinated. Among those aged 70 to 79, the province recorded a rate of 0.44 deaths per million population for the vaccinated, compared to 23.7 for the unvaccinated.
Of the 50 people aged 80 and over who died during this period, 37 were vaccinated and 13 were unvaccinated. But this should not be concluded that vaccinated people were less well protected in this age group, warn experts. “When you compare data, you have to compare apples and apples,” explains Dr.r Donald Vinh, infectious disease specialist at the McGill University Health Center.
The latter explains that in people over 80 years of age, the vaccination rate is very high (96.6%). “At some point, you reach such a high vaccination rate that the majority of cases will be in people who have been vaccinated,” says Dr.r Vinh.
And when we take the time to calculate the death rate per million people in those 80 and over, we see that it reaches 3.35 in the fully vaccinated and 33.4 in the unvaccinated.
[Les données démontrent que] vaccines work to limit the number of deaths. The proportions are striking […] The rationale for vaccines continues to hold water.
Benoit Barbeau, virologist and professor in the department of biological sciences at the University of Quebec in Montreal
Despite a more transmissible variant and the fact that the first doses of vaccine have been given for some time (the doses of antibodies decrease over time), “even today people are protected against severe symptoms with vaccines. », Notes Mr. Barbeau. And this observation holds even in the group “more at risk of the 80 years and more”, assures it.
For the Dr Vinh, who treats COVID-19 patients in hospital, the data proves what he sees in his practice in the field: “The people most affected by the virus right now are the unvaccinated. ”
The Dr Vinh specifies that, “like any other medicine, vaccines do not work 100%”. But it is obvious that vaccination “offers excellent protection against hospitalizations and death”. Regarding the prevention of transmission, the effect of vaccines is “not so dramatic”. “But there is still an effect,” he says.
517 new cases, 2 deaths
The rise in the number of new cases of COVID-19 is slowing in Quebec. The province reported on Tuesday 517 new cases, 2 more deaths and a slight drop in the number of people hospitalized.
The 517 new cases reported on Tuesday bring the seven-day daily average to 632. The average is 11% higher over a week, but the uptrend has slowed in recent days.
The unvaccinated continue to represent the majority of new cases. This group reports an average of 402 new cases per day, compared to 212 in the fully vaccinated. Their infection rate is 228 new cases per million unvaccinated, against 32 per million among fully vaccinated.
Nunavik continues to observe an upward trend. The region reports an average of 227 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants. This rate is significantly higher than the region which ranks second among the most affected at present, Estrie, which reports 15 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
The two additional deaths bring the daily average to three. The trend is therefore down slightly compared to last week.
The number of people hospitalized decreased slightly to 200. On the other hand, the number of patients in intensive care increased to 47. The trend over one week is thus slightly upward.
The majority of people requiring hospitalization are not adequately immunized. There is an average of 8.6 hospitalizations per day for non-vaccinated people, compared to 5.3 for fully vaccinated people. When taking into account their weight in the population, the unvaccinated have a rate of 4.9 hospitalizations per million people, compared to 0.8 among the fully vaccinated. To date, 79.6% of Quebecers have received at least one dose of vaccine and 77.5% are fully vaccinated.