Celebrating the Success of the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme
On 16 May 2023,Scottish Parliament held a debate aimed at celebrating the success of the COVID-19 vaccine programme in Scotland. Key results from EAVE II were highlighted during the proceedings.
Meeting details
"That the Parliament recognises the success of the COVID-19 vaccination programme; notes that over 15 million vaccines have been administered and that tens of thousands of deaths have been prevented; agrees that vaccination has led to the World Health Organization (WHO) declaring an end to the public health emergency; recognises that COVID-19 has not gone away and offers condolences to all those who have lost a loved one during the pandemic; agrees that the success of the vaccination programme has allowed people to be kept safe, while the country lives with COVID-19; encourages those who are eligible for vaccination to come forward when called, in order to protect themselves and others, and thanks the dedicated health and social care workers who continue to deliver the vaccine."
Points of interest
Obesity accelerates loss of COVID-19 vaccination immunity
During the discussion, John Mason MSP referenced recent findings from a collaboration between the EAVE II team and the SCORPIO study based at the University of Cambridge.
Obesity has long been considered a risk factor, too. I was interested to see in The Herald on Friday a report on a study on that topic involving Aziz Sheikh of the University of Edinburgh. It seems that vaccines are less effective on overweight patients, such as people with a body mass index of more than 40—that is, those who are morbidly obese—who were 76 per cent more likely to get severe symptoms.
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Read the full summary in plain English
Read the press release
COVID-19 vaccines effective at preventing serious illness
When discussing the crucial role of the COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic, Jim Fairlie MSP mentioned results from one of EAVE II's earliest investigations. It found that first doses of the Pfizer BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines reduced the risk of COVID-19 hospital admissions by 91% and 88%, respectively.
Our ability to get back to as close to normal as possible is undoubtedly because the vaccine is saving lives and helping those who get infected to be less affected. Studies by the University of Edinburgh show us that the likelihood of serious illness and death is reduced by 90 per cent for those who are vaccinated compared with the unvaccinated population.
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