COVID-19 DEATHS AND VACCINATION: a comparative analysis
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Date
2024-06-26
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Abstract
Purpose: COVID-19 deaths before and in the vaccination era across countries of interest in Africa and other regions were compared to observe how vaccination impacted the trajectory of COVID-19 deaths in selected jurisdictions.
Method: COVID-19 cases, deaths and vaccination rates in World Health Organization database up to 07 June 2023 were extracted for countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America that included China, Ghana, India, Nigeria, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, United States, and the United Kingdom, selected based on their COVID-19 trajectory. Case fatality rate (CFR) per 1,000 was computed for the period prior to vaccination (CFR1) and the period after vaccination commenced (CFR2). Tests of correlation between the vaccination rate per 100 persons and variables of interest were undertaken and examined.
Result: COVID-19 mortality increased in all countries ranging from 112.35% in South Africa to 2304.43% in China during vaccination era except in Nigeria where this decreased 38.3% relative to pre-vaccination figure. The percentage (%) change in COVID-19 deaths rose with increasing vaccination rates; correlation coefficients for primary vaccination being r=0.564 (p=0.05), booster 1 with positive correlation r=0.612 (p=0.04); booster2, r=0.678 (p=0.03) coverage respectively. In contrast, CFR per 1,000 in vaccinated areas declined as vaccination rates increased; with negative correlation, r=-0.740 (p=0.011), r=-0.746 (p=0.011), r=-0.814 (p=0.007) for primary, first booster, second booster rates respectively.
Conclusion: COVID-19 deaths occurred more with vaccination and appears to increase as vaccination expands across the entire sample.
Description
This is a preliminary report that has not gone through the regular review process but because of the nature of the findings and what it suggests, the lead authors have decided to deposit it in the repository of their home university on 26 June, 2024.
Keywords
COVID-19 deaths, vaccination, regions