‘58 pct of those with severe COVID were unvaccinated’

Buse Özel - ISTANBUL

Following a large-scale study conducted on the COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness in Türkiye, experts have stressed that some 58 percent of individuals who developed serious illnesses were unvaccinated.

The results of one of the largest studies in the country showing the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine were announced.

The data has shown that out of the patients admitted to intensive care due to the disease, 60 percent were men with an average age of 65.

Prof. Dr. Cenk Kıraklı, one of the intensive care specialists who conducted the research, stated that 58.5 percent of inpatients were unvaccinated, 55 percent had two doses of the Sinovac vaccine, 26 percent had three doses of the Sinovac vaccine, and only 7 percent had two doses of the BioNTech vaccine.

The research, which examined approximately 3,000 patients who had to be hospitalized in intensive care due to COVID-19, covered the entire year of 2021.

In the study, it was observed that in intensive care patients, being vaccinated or unvaccinated did not change the mortality rates much, while nearly 60 percent of those hospitalized in intensive care were completely unvaccinated or had only a single dose.

“After being admitted to intensive care, mortality rates do not differ much between vaccinated and unvaccinated, but the mortality rate of those who received the mRNA vaccine in the last period is lower. At this point, inactivated vaccines’ effectiveness seems to be weaker,” Kıraklı said.

Explaining that one of the important points is the condition of pregnant patients, Kıraklı noted that all 35 pregnant patients admitted to intensive care were unvaccinated.

“While 60 percent of those admitted to the intensive care unit were men, there were also a small number of patients under the age of 40. Almost all patients under 40 were unvaccinated. It was observed that the majority of intensive care patients who were vaccinated were older and had many additional diseases,” Kıraklı added.