www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/02/14/vaccines-working-over-80s-deaths-drop-twice-quickly-under-65s/
New research by the University of Oxford shows that since the peak in January, the case fatality rate (CFR) in the over-80s has fallen by 32 per cent.
In contrast, it has dropped by just 14 per cent in the under-65s in the same period.
The CFR measures the number of people dying after testing positive. The new figures suggest that even where people are contracting the disease, fewer people are now dying.
The Oxford team from the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine (CEBM) said results were “tentatively consistent with the impact of vaccination”.
Most vaccine trials have focused on whether vaccines prevent symptomatic disease, but it was hoped they would alsoprevent hospitalisationand deaths. The case fatality rate data is the first real-world hint that this is happening.
Overall deaths have also been falling. Between Jan 27 and Feb 6 the weekly decrease in the over-80s was 41 per cent, but just 22 per cent in the under-65s.
There was also a decrease of 37 per cent in the 74- to 84-year-olds and a reduction of 34 per cent in the 65- to 74-year-olds – in keeping with which groups werevaccinated first in the rollout.