Covid-19 vaccines 94% effective in elderly: RIVM

The Covid-19 vaccines are highly effective in the elderly population, public health agency RIVM said. The vaccine offered 94% protection against developing more severe forms of the disease to people older than 75, three weeks after the injection. The level of protection against dying from Covid-19 was also 94%.

Both elderly people living at home and nursing home residents showed a sharp decrease in the number of hospital admissions and deaths in the first eight weeks of the vaccination campaign, RIVM stated.

Since January 26, mobile elderly people living at home have been vaccinated against Covid-19 with the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine. The RIVM has now calculated that a full vaccination in this group reduced the risk of getting infected with coronavirus by 82%.

The RIVM also noted that the protection slightly decreased with age. The level of protection was 96% among people between 59 and 75 years of age. Among the age group 80-84, that fell to 87%. People older than 85 were 72% protected against the infection three weeks after receiving the second dose.

The institute also reported a 66% decrease in the number of positive coronavirus tests among people over 85 living at home who were vaccinated. The number of deaths from Covid-19 among this group has also halved.

Among nursing home residents, the drop in the number of positive tests and deaths was even more visible, RIVM concluded.