There has been a significant reduction in those with COVID-19 requiring treatment in hospital, showing the “clear” impact of vaccination, according to the public health chief.
Charmaine Gauci pointed to figures from November 15 last year, a month before vaccines were rolled out in the country, that show 185 people were in hospital – 8.5 per cent of the 2,172 active cases.
That compares with 13 in hospital on the same date this year, or 2.2% of the 603 active cases.
“It is clear that vaccinated people are far better protected than unvaccinated people against severe disease and death from COVID-19 including the Delta variant,” she told Times of Malta readers in her weekly Ask Charmaine column.
Earlier, Health Minister Chris Fearne encouraged people to take the booster shot, noting that Malta currently has no daily COVID-19 deaths.
The average age of a COVID-19 hospital patient is currently 61 years, Gauci said, with the youngest being 36 and the oldest 77.
“The factors associated with high risk of hospitalisation for COVID-19 include older age and presence of multiple comorbidities,” she said.
Gauci said that nine patients are vaccinated while four are not and that people should not expect the vaccine to offer full protection.
“As long as the SARS-COV-2 virus continues to circulate, infections will continue to occur in people, with some in those who have completed the vaccination schedule,” she said.
“However, infections in vaccinated people do not mean the vaccines are not working, since no vaccine is 100 per cent effective, although the effectiveness of all EU-authorised COVID-19 vaccines is very high.”
Health data showed on Tuesday that the number of people in hospital had increased slightly to 16 and 64 new cases were recorded.
Fearne has said that as long as the number in hospital remains stable, there will not be any additional measures introduced to combat the spread.
However, he also noted that the authorities are also aware that spikes in hospital and death rates tend to occur around three to four weeks from an increase in community infections.
For this reason, healthcare workers are monitoring the situation at Mater Dei Hospital closely to establish whether the drop in patients requiring care in hospital will be maintained despite the increases in the community.