Covid-19: Unvaccinated 11 Times More Likely to Die

Women sell face masks and gloves, to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, to passengers at a public minibus station in Lagos, Nigeria Friday, March 27, 2020. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

“Nigeria’s 0.8% vaccination rate contrasts poorly with South Africa’s 12.2%, Malaysia’s 52.8%, India’s 12.5%, Indonesia’s 15.1% and Kazakhstan’s 31.5%”.

Covid-19 vaccine sceptics are as varied as the reasons they won’t take the vaccine even if it is available. Some believe the new coronavirus pandemic is a hoax invented to sell vaccines, others think the pandemic and the vaccines are a plot to reduce population in the non-western world. Many believe that the vaccines may have horrible side effects; memes have been circulating about people breakdancing non-stop or turning green after taking the anti-coronavirus vaccine.

The sceptics were boosted by reports that some fully vaccinated people have contracted the virus. Why risk your skin turning green when the vaccine cannot even protect you from being infected?

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Luckily, research is emerging to help answer that question. A study published last Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States of America has found that people who have not been vaccinated are 10 times more likely to require hospitalisation if they catch the novel coronavirus compared to fully vaccinated people. They are also 11 times more likely to die from Covid-19 complications.

Hence, while vaccination does not fully protect against contracting the novel coronavirus, it prevents the infection from causing serious illness requiring treatment in the hospital and significantly limits the chances of death in cases of serious illness.

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Nigeria has confirmed 198,239 cases of the new coronavirus and recorded 2,588 deaths. There are currently 10,038 active cases with 466 confirmed on 11 September from 13 states: Lagos (134), Rivers (82), Edo (69), Gombe (39), FCT (32), Kaduna (21), Plateau (20), Benue (19), Kwara (17), Delta (16), Akwa Ibom (10), Bayelsa (5) and Kano (2).

Nigeria has administered 5,180,000 doses of the new coronavirus vaccine and has 1, 580,000 million people vaccinated, only 0.8% of the population. Nigeria’s 0.8% vaccination rate contrasts poorly with South Africa’s 12.2%, Malaysia’s 52.8%, India’s 12.5%, Indonesia’s 15.1% and Kazakhstan’s 31.5%.