Press Release N°53/2021 COVID-19: vaccinated individuals who died were 'hyper-fragile', higher average age and had more previous illnesses "Reducing the circulation of the virus is the best way to protect them"

ISS, October 19th 2021 -

The COVID-19-related deaths of individuals who had completed their vaccination course had a higher average age (85.5 versus 78.3) than unvaccinated individuals, and the average number of concomitant diseases observed was also significantly higher in this group (5,0 versus 3.9 pre-existing pathologies). This was stated in an in-depth analysis contained in the periodic report on deaths of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità – ISS (Italian National Institute of Health) published today, and based on the analysis of a sample of 671 medical records relating to deaths that occurred from 01/02/2021 to 05/10/2021.
In the period considered, there were 38,096 SARS-COV-2 positive deaths. Among these 33,620 had not been vaccinated yet while 1,440 SARS-COV-2 positive deaths occurred in individuals who had been fully vaccinated (3.7% of all SARS-COV-2 positive deaths that occurred in the period of reference). An analysis of the characteristics of all the individuals who died indicates that the presence of heart disease (ischemic heart disease, atrial fibrillation and heart failure), dementia and cancer was higher in the vaccinated individuals.
"The results presented here - explains Graziano Onder, director of the Department of Cardiovascular, Endocrine-Metabolic Diseases and Aging of the ISS - clearly indicate that the people who died after completing their vaccination course had a high level of clinical complexity, significantly higher than the people who had not been able to benefit from the effects of the vaccine due to an early infection or because they had not even started the vaccination course. It can be hypothesized that very elderly patients with several concomitant diseases may have a reduced immune response and therefore be susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection and its complications despite being vaccinated. These very fragile people with a reduced immune response are those who can benefit most from a broad vaccination coverage of the entire population as this further reduces the risk of infection. Reducing the circulation of the virus is the best way to protect them".

Demographic characteristics of the deceased The report describes the characteristics of 130,468 SARS-CoV-2 positive patients who died in Italy from the start of the surveillance to 5 October 2021, recorded by the COVID-19 Integrated Surveillance System and coordinated by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità - ISS. The average age of the patients who died and were positive for SARS-CoV-2 was 80 years (median 82, range 0-109). Of these, 56,792 were women (43.5%). Only in the over 90 age group did the number of female deaths exceed those of the males; this was due to the fact that about 72% of the population in this age group are women. Overall, women who died after contracting SARS-CoV-2 infection were older than the men (median age: women 85 years - men 80 years). As of October 5, 2021, out of the 130,468 (1.2%) SARS-CoV-2 positive patients under the age of 50, 1,601 died. In particular, 399 of these were younger than 40 (245 men and 154 women aged between 0 and 39).