LONDON (PA) – Britain’s COVID-19 vaccination program is beginning to break the link between infection and serious illness or death, according to the latest results of an ongoing pandemic study in England.
Researchers at Imperial College London found that COVID-19 infections fell by about 60% in March as national blockade measures slowed the spread of the virus. People aged 65 and over were the least likely to become infected, as they benefited the most from the vaccination program, which initially focused on the elderly.
The study also found that the relationship between infections and deaths is divergent, suggesting that infections could have led to fewer hospitalizations and deaths since the start of widespread vaccination.
The good news came amid renewed vaccination control following Wednesday’s revised British government guidelines that it would provide people under 30 with an alternative inoculation to AstraZeneca shooting, where possible. The change followed studies that the shooting may be related to very rare blood clots.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock told Sky News that the public should be reassured by the abundance of caution shown by the authorities to ensure that the vaccine is launched as safely as possible.
“What I have learned in the last 24 hours is that the launch of the vaccine works, we have seen that the safety system works, because regulators can observe even this extremely rare event – four out of a million – and can take the necessary actions to to make sure the launch is as safe as possible, “he said.” And we see that the vaccine works. It breaks the link between cases and deaths. “
About 31.7 million people had received a first dose by Tuesday, or just over 60% of the country’s adult population.
But imperial researchers also called for caution, saying infection rates dropped at the end of the study period as the government began easing the national blockade and children returned to school. Future stages of the study will assess the impact of further facilitating restrictions on infection rates.
The next step in lifting England’s third national blockade is scheduled for April 12, when non-essential shops will be able to reopen, along with hair salons, gyms and outdoor services at pubs and restaurants.
The findings are based on data collected in the 10th round of the Imperial College real-time evaluation of community broadcasts, which perform buffer tests on a random sample of people in England each month. The latest round tested more than 140,000 people between March 11 and 30.
Even though the UK had one of the fastest vaccine launches in the world, the death toll from the pandemic is the highest in Europe, at over 127,000.
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