Covid deaths at Limerick nursing homes 'started to dwindle rapidly' following vaccine roll-out
“IT WAS like a switch had been turned off - the deaths suddenly started to dwindle rapidly.”
Public Health Mid-West consultant, Dr Marie Casey is referring to what occurred after vaccines were introduced at nursing homes.
Exclusive figures have been given to the Limerick Leader in relation to the uptake of the Covid vaccine.
From a preliminary report of data analysis compiled by the Health Protection Service Centre, they found that in the primary vaccination programme, over 99.9% of the eligible population in Limerick received their primary course – the first two vaccines.
Looking at the near 140,000 cases of Covid-19 in the Mid-West since March 2020, the mortality rate prior to vaccine introduction was 2.2%. However, the mortality rate since vaccines were introduced is now 0.2%.
On this figure, Dr Casey said: This is a huge success, there has been a tenfold decrease in the fatality rate since the introduction of Covid vaccines.”
Having worked with nursing homes throughout the pandemic, Dr Casey stated: “At the start, if there was an outbreak in a nursing home we would often see fatality rates of 20%.” After vaccines were introduced she said, “it was like a switch had been turned off - the deaths suddenly started to dwindle rapidly.”
For some, vaccine hesitation is prevalent, and Dr Casey states that this is commonly due to disinformation. To try and put those members of the public at ease, she says: “Vaccine side effect monitoring systems globally allow people to report their own side effects to see if there’s any unusual trends.”
As it stands, there has been no vaccine related death in the Mid-West since their launch, and with over 13 billion doses distributed worldwide, 5.5 billion people have had at least one vaccine. Due to this widely released figure, Dr Casey ensures: “If trends were to be seen we would be starting to see them, just by the sheer volume that has been given.”
To those who may have received their preliminary doses of the vaccine, but have not received a booster, Dr Casey advises that these boosters are bivalent and cover more types of Covid-19, including the currently widespread Omicron variant. Adding that protection does wane over time, vaccination induced immunity is better than immunity from infection.
“It’s durable and lasts longer”, she said.
In relation to the hospital protest last month, she said: “We are all on the same side, and we can see the impact not taking preventative healthcare options has on our health services. Informaton is available on the HSE website.”