Unvaccinated people account for over 90% of new COVID-19 hospitalisations and 88.9% of deaths being recorded in the community during the ongoing third wave in Zimbabwe, according to new data by the Ministry of Health and Child Care.
“Over 90% of recorded COVID-19 hospital admissions are not vaccinated,” Zimbabwe’s COVID-19 response chief co-ordinator, Dr Agnes Mahomva said in an update on Friday.
An analysis of 207 community deaths recorded in Harare shows that 88.9% were of unvaccinated people. Fully vaccinated people accounted for 4.8% of the deaths, while 3.4% had received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and the status of the remainder, 2.9%, were unknown.
This trend is in line with observations in other countries, including the United States, where unvaccinated people are dominating hospitalisation and fatality statistics. Experts say COVID-19 has become a pandemic of the unvaccinated.
“Vaccination is contributing to the protection of people from COVID-19 hospitalisation and death – it is saving lives,” Mahomva said.
In a development that might have implications on schools, Dr Mahomva added that more children were getting infected compared to the two previous COVID-19 waves.
An average 10.5 deaths were being recorded in the current wave, compared to 2.7 and 8.1 daily deaths in the previous two waves.
newZWire/PHILA
