COVID-19 Vaccine Protects People Of All Body Weights: Lancet Study

London: COVID-19 vaccines greatly reduced the number of cases of severe COVID-19 for everyone regardless of their body size, according to a study of 90 lakh adults in England published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology on Friday (July 1). Vaccine effectiveness was similar for those with a higher body mass index (BMI) and of a healthy weight, but slightly lower in the underweight group, who were also the least likely to have been vaccinated, the researchers said. In a further analysis of vaccinated people only, among the fewer COVID-19 cases recorded, people of very low and very high BMI were more likely to experience severe disease than vaccinated healthy weight people, they said.

Also Read: WHO Asks South-East Asian Countries To Scale Up COVID-19 Vaccination

“Our findings provide further evidence that COVID-19 vaccines save lives for people of all sizes,” said study lead author Carmen Piernas from the University of Oxford, UK.

Our results provide reassurance to people with obesity that COVID-19 vaccines are equally as effective for them as for people with a lower BMI, and that vaccination substantially reduces their risk of severe illness if they are infected with COVID-19, Carmen Piernas said.

The data also highlights the need for targeted efforts to increase vaccine uptake in people with a low BMI, where uptake is currently lower than for people with a higher BMI, the researchers said.

They searched anonymised health records from more than 12 million patients in England taking part in QResearch – a secure database of healthcare information available to verified researchers. Of these, 9,171,524 (9.1 lakh) patients who were over 18 years old, had BMI data, had not previously been infected with SARS-CoV-2 were included in the study.

People were grouped based on their BMI according to four World Health Organisation definitions of 18.5-24.9 kilogrammes per square metre (kg/m2) for healthy weight, below 18.5 for underweight and 25- 29.9 for overweight.

Characteristics such as age, sex, smoking status, and social deprivation were also accounted for in the analyses. Of over 90 lakh people included in the study, 566,461 (over 5.6 lakh) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 during the study from December 8, 2020 (date of the first vaccine given in the UK) to November 17, 2021.

Of those, 32,808 were admitted to hospital and 14,389 died.

Also Read: COVID Vaccine Explainer: Why Is Booster Dose Important?

At the end of the study period, 23.3 per cent of the healthy weight group, 32.6 per cent of the underweight group, 16.8 per cent of the overweight group and 14.2 per cent of the group with obesity had had no doses of any COVID-19 vaccine.

To understand vaccine effectiveness, the researchers compared risk of severe disease in vaccinated versus non-vaccinated people at least 14 days after a second dose.

They found that being vaccinated offered high protection across all BMI groups, but that the effect was slightly lower in underweight people.

Underweight vaccinated people had around half the likelihood of being hospitalised or dying compared with unvaccinated people of the same BMI.

In comparison, people in the healthy and high BMI groups who were vaccinated were around 70 per cent less likely to be hospitalised than unvaccinated people, the researchers said.

People with a healthy or a higher BMI were also around two-thirds less likely to die than their unvaccinated counterparts two weeks after a second dose, they said.

Also Read: 70 Per Cent People Who Took Booster Dose Didn’t Get Covid During 3rd Wave In India: Study

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.