Of the 72 hospitalized Covid patients who were treated in intensive care units in Vienna at the beginning of the week (Monday, January 10), ten were fully vaccinated. In contrast, 62 and 86.1 percent were not or insufficiently immunized against Covid-19. Of the 192 Covid patients in normal wards, 131 – with 68.2 percent more than two thirds – had not developed adequate vaccination protection. 61 were fully immunized.
These figures, which the City of Vienna made available on APA request, make it clear that the corona vaccination is also effective before or during an infection with the Omikron variant, which now dominates the virus. Above all, it protects against severe courses. Statistically speaking, almost nine out of ten life-threatening cases that require intensive medical treatment in the federal capital are not or insufficiently vaccinated people. In the normal wards, two out of three Covid patients are not or not sufficiently immunized.
The difference that immunization makes is also shown by a look at the seven-day incidences depending on the vaccination status. While in the federal capital around 580 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants occurred among those fully vaccinated in the past seven days, the seven-day incidence among those who were not or insufficiently immunized is around 1,660. It is therefore almost 2.8 times higher.
Above all, unprotected older people, especially those over 60, run the risk if they become infected with Omikron – in Vienna the youngest virus variant has now almost completely displaced the Delta mutation, the Omikron share in Corona events is between 95 and 100 percent. The incidence of unvaccinated people in intensive care units in this age group was 43 per 100,000 inhabitants at the beginning of the week, while one of the vaccinated people or one in 100,000 with Covid-19 came to an intensive care unit. The probability of inpatient admission to a hospital and a severe course of Covid is more than 40 times higher for an infected unvaccinated person over the age of 60 than for an immunized person. According to the data from the City of Vienna, vaccination reduces the risk of ending up in an intensive care unit after an infection with SARS-CoV-2 by a factor of 18 in the 30 to 59 year old age group.