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COVID-19 vaccines may have saved the lives of tens of thousands of seniors nationwide earlier this year, according to estimates from a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) report released Tuesday.
The study suggests that COVID-19 vaccinations may have prevented about 265,000 infections, 107,000 hospitalizations and 39,000 fatalities among Medicare recipients in the first five months of 2021.
Researchers specifically found the vaccines may have stopped 5,600 deaths among nursing home Medicare beneficiaries — a population hit hard by the pandemic prior to vaccines.
The vaccination rate among seniors climbed from 1 percent to 80 percent over that five-month period. Weekly COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths among Medicare recipients decreased by 11 to 12 percent for every 10 percent increase in county vaccination rates.
All racial and ethnic groups, as well as the 48 states included in the study, estimated a decrease in cases, hospitalizations and deaths associated with jumps in the vaccination rate. Texas and Hawaii were excluded from the analysis because of “data reporting limitations.”
What this means: The HHS report signals the effectiveness of the vaccines in potentially averting senior deaths after the majority of fatalities before shots occurred among people ages 65 and older who were eligible for Medicare.
HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said the report backs up the Biden administration’s push to vaccinate the country and prioritize older populations, showing these doses “save lives, prevent hospitalizations, and reduce infection.”
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Covid cases are high for another day in Russia, which has is in the middle of a fourth wave linked by experts to the Delta variant and a poor vaccine rollout. Less than 30 % of the adult population are vaccinated.
Today 25,133 new cases have been reported for the last 24 hours. Yesterday it was 25,100.
Russia has reported a record number of Covid deaths for four of the past six days. On Monday, 883 deaths were reported, taking the official death toll to 210,000. Calculations based on publicly available mortality data suggest that the “excess death” toll between the start of the pandemic and July this year is nearly 600,000.
The pandemic has reached Russia’s leadership. Last month, Vladimir Putin was forced to go into self-isolation after “several dozen people” in the president’s inner circle tested positive.
Poland COVID Rate Rockets
Poland’s daily COVID-19 cases have risen by around 70% in the past week to over 2,000, with a government minister warning that the data is a ‘very fast flashing red light’.
Reuters reports that Poland’s health service was stretched to its limits in the spring by a third wave of the pandemic that saw daily cases exceed 35,000, but authorities believe vaccinations will help control the number of infections this autumn.
“Today’s data is a very fast flashing red light,” Waldemar Kraska, a deputy health minister, told public broadcaster Polskie Radio 1.
“This is the last moment when we should get vaccinated, because the fourth wave is definitely accelerating, and in those regions where the number of vaccinated people is the lowest.”
Poland has seen the pace of its vaccination programme slow in recent months, and many people in rural southern and eastern regions have decided not to get vaccinated.
However, Kraska said the government was not planning to return to the large-scale restrictions on public life seen during previous waves of the pandemic.
“We do not plan any restrictions on the economy, if we do, we will pinpoint them, on the level of counties, towns,” he said.
Czech Republic: 1,000 Cases in One Day
The Czech Republic reported more than 1,000 new Covid-19 cases in one day for first the time since 18 May, data from the health ministry said on Wednesday. On 5 October tests identified 1,108 new cases in the country of 10.7 million, the figures showed.
Local media reports that the health ministry will decide whether to tighten some Covid control measures due to the increase in infections.
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