New data from the Office for National Statistics shows that the age-adjusted risk of dying with coronavirus was 32 times greater in unvaccinated people than in fully vaccinated individuals.
Statisticians have found that mortality rates were consistently lower for people who had received two vaccinations, compared with those who had received none or one vaccination.
The mortality rate was 849.7 out of 1,000 for people who were unvaccinated. This was compared to 26.2 out of 1,000 for people who had received a second vaccine dose.
It comes after the global death toll from Covid-19 topped 5 million on Monday, less than two years into a crisis that has not only devastated poor countries but also humbled wealthy ones with first-rate health care systems.
Together, the United States the European Union, Britain and Brazil account for one-eighth of the world’s population but nearly half of all reported deaths.
“This is a defining moment in our lifetime,” said Dr Albert Ko, an infectious disease specialist at the Yale School of Public Health. “What do we have to do to protect ourselves so we don’t get to another 5 million?”
