Support 100 years of independent journalism.

  1. Chart of the Day
22 December 2021

How unvaccinated people are far more likely to be hospitalised by Covid-19

An unvaccinated 80-year-old is five times more likely to be hospitalised than a vaccinated one.

By Nick Ferris

When the world was first alerted to the Omicron variant of Covid-19 on 24 November, the great fear was that its armoury of vaccines would no longer be effective. The variant has an unusually large number of mutations, a significant number of which affect the spike protein targeted by most vaccines.


But data from the latest Covid-19 vaccine surveillance report shows that over the four weeks to 12 December – the latter half of which coincided with Omicron’s rapid spread – vaccines have continued to offer significant protection against hospitalisation. For the age group 80 and older, the rate of hospitalisation was 181 hospital admissions per 100,000 unvaccinated individuals, compared to just 37 for vaccinated individuals.  

There are also tentative signs that the Omicron wave may be slowing down. Having initially soared since the variant was first detected in the UK in late November, the daily UK caseload has now been largely unchanged for nearly a week, with 90,629 reported on Tuesday (1,115 lower than the previous day). 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson nevertheless warned that there continued to be “uncertainty” over exactly how severe Omicron is, given that it typically takes around two weeks for initial infections to develop to the point of hospitalisation.

Select and enter your email address Quick and essential guide to domestic and global politics from the New Statesman's politics team. The New Statesman’s global affairs newsletter, every Monday and Friday. Your new guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture each weekend - from the New Statesman. A weekly newsletter helping you fit together the pieces of the global economic slowdown. A newsletter showcasing the finest writing from the ideas section, covering political ideas, philosophy, criticism and intellectual history - sent every Wednesday. The New Statesman’s weekly environment email on the politics, business and culture of the climate and nature crises - in your inbox every Thursday. Sign up to receive information regarding NS events, subscription offers & product updates.
  • Administration / Office
  • Arts and Culture
  • Board Member
  • Business / Corporate Services
  • Client / Customer Services
  • Communications
  • Construction, Works, Engineering
  • Education, Curriculum and Teaching
  • Environment, Conservation and NRM
  • Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance
  • Finance Management
  • Health - Medical and Nursing Management
  • HR, Training and Organisational Development
  • Information and Communications Technology
  • Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives
  • Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities
  • Legal Officers and Practitioners
  • Librarians and Library Management
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • OH&S, Risk Management
  • Operations Management
  • Planning, Policy, Strategy
  • Printing, Design, Publishing, Web
  • Projects, Programs and Advisors
  • Property, Assets and Fleet Management
  • Public Relations and Media
  • Purchasing and Procurement
  • Quality Management
  • Science and Technical Research and Development
  • Security and Law Enforcement
  • Service Delivery
  • Sport and Recreation
  • Travel, Accommodation, Tourism
  • Wellbeing, Community / Social Services
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
THANK YOU

Content from our partners
How to navigate the modern cyber-threat landscape
Supporting customers through the cost of living crisis
Data on cloud will change the way you interact with the government