Average age of Covid patients in hospitals declining as vaccination progresses
The average age of patients admitted to the hospital with Covid-19 decreased in May, figures from nonprofit ICU monitor NICE showed. Additionally, most people requiring intensive care treatment have not yet been vaccinated against Covid-19, said Dutch Association for Intensive Care chair Diederik Gommers to AD.
About 26% of all Covid-19 patients currently in hospital are now between 50 and 59 years of age, making it the age group most represented. In March and April, the largest group still consisted of people in their seventies. Many patients in their eighties were also admitted to hospitals with Covid-19 during the first two months of the year but that is no longer the case.
“The numbers speak for themselves. The age groups that have been vaccinated have a much lower chance of arriving at the ICU and in the hospital than groups that have not yet been vaccinated,“ said Nicolette de Keizer, a professor of medical information science, to AD.
“We were already convinced that the vaccine works and these figures show that it actually is. So you can already see an effect after the first injection,'' said Gommers. Three of the four vaccines in use in the Netherlands require two doses for maximum effect.
Dave Dongelmans, who is an intensivist at the Amsterdam UMC and the chair of NICE, was hopeful that the latest figures can convince people still doubtful about the effectiveness of the jab to schedule an appointment.
"You are not going to convince the so-called wappies, but doubters will be sensitive to the fact that it now appears in practice that the injection works," he said. “Viruswappies” is a slang term used to describe the group of people who deny the seriousness of the coronavirus or the pandemic.
Dutch hospitals were treating 1,695 people for the coronavirus disease on Monday afternoon, including fewer than 600 ICU patients. The number of ICU patients has gone down by 29 percent in the last month, and the combined hospital total reached its lowest point since December 11.
A total of 8,457,934 coronavirus jabs are estimated to have been given since the start of the national vaccination program in January. Roughly 40 to 50 percent of the adult population have received at least one vaccine shot.
