The World Health Organization (WHO) says that although the COVID-19 pandemic has officially ended and the virus no longer causes the level of disruption seen during the global health emergency, it continues to hospitalize and kill people, particularly those who are not up to date with vaccination. Studies led by the WHO Regional Office for Europe found that people who received timely booster doses were significantly less likely to develop severe illness, require intensive care or die from COVID-19. The findings were drawn from data collected by the European Severe Acute Respiratory Infection Vaccine Effectiveness (EuroSAVE) network, which monitors hospitalised respiratory infections across parts of Europe, the Balkans, the South Caucasus, and Central Asia.
Between May 2023 and April 2024, nearly 4,000 patients were hospitalised with acute respiratory infections in countries covered by the network, with almost 10 per cent of those cases attributed to COVID-19, despite the pandemic having been declared over.
Among patients hospitalised with COVID-19, only three per cent had received a vaccine dose within the previous 12 months. Outcomes were frequently severe, with 13 per cent requiring admission to intensive care units and 11 per cent dying.
Mark Katz, a medical epidemiologist at the WHO regional office, said the data showed that COVID-19 remained a serious health threat. “The studies highlight that, while COVID-19 is not leading to the widespread disease we saw during the pandemic, it has still been causing a considerable number of hospitalisations and deaths,” he said.
Comparative research also showed that patients hospitalised with COVID-19 were more likely than those with influenza to need oxygen, intensive care or to die from the illness.
By contrast, vaccination provided strong protection. One EuroSAVE study found that an up-to-date COVID-19 vaccine received within the past six months was 72 per cent effective at preventing hospitalisation and 67 per cent effective at preventing the most severe outcomes, including intensive care admission and death.
A separate multi-country analysis further showed that COVID-19 vaccines reduced related hospitalisations by about 60 per cent, reinforcing the importance of staying up to date with booster doses.
