Coronavirus: Four out of every five Fifers to die from COVID were unvaccinated

Data obtained from NHS Fife using Freedom of Information requests shows that 142 of the 184 Fifers who died after contracting the virus were not vaccinated – 77.1 per cent in all.

The virus has killed 28 people who had received their first dose of a vaccine (15.2 per cent) and 14 others who had received both jabs.

The greatest number of deaths occurred in the 80-plus age group (57 per cent) but six of the deaths were among the unvaccinated under 50. None of the deaths are among those under 50 who has been either single- or double-vaccinated.

Figures on positive tests since the week ending July 23 show that unvaccinated people account for, on average, 44 per cent of those who test positive for COVID-19.

Around 36 per cent of positive tests in the weeks since have been reported by single-vaccinated Fifers and the other 20 per cent are double-jabbed.

No coronavirus vaccine offers complete immunity to the virus or a guarantee against transmission or infection: the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine offers 63.09 per cent efficacy against COVID-19, while the Pfizer BioNTech jab is up to 95 per cent effective.

And given that almost 90 per cent of the Kingdom has received at least one COVID jab, it is inevitable that the vaccinated will account for some of the infected.

But, proportionally, those who are not vaccinated are more likely to test positive for COVID – and more likely to die from it.

Dr Joy Tomlinson, NHS Fife’s director of public health, said: “The vaccine continues to offer the best available protection against COVID-19, and with the rates of the virus particularly high at present, it is more important than ever to get fully vaccinated.

“While there has been very good uptake right across the adult population in Fife to date, we are still seeing many people, even young people, becoming seriously unwell who have not yet fully vaccinated against the virus.

“Everyone has a part to play in stopping transmission and we want to thank the hundreds of thousands of Fifers who have come forward so far to get the vaccine and help protect themselves and the wider community.

“We also continue to encourage everyone to continue to protect themselves and their community by wearing face-coverings, meeting outside where they can or in well-ventilated indoor spaces and maintaining social-distancing as much as possible while levels of COVID-19 remain high.”

Public Health Scotland began collecting data on deaths and tests by vaccination status from December 29, 21 days after the vaccination programme commenced on December 8. This was to give the earliest doses time to become fully effective.

As for vaccination in general, Fife continues to lag behind the Scottish average. Almost nine in 10 Fifers have received at least one coronavirus jab at 89.7 per cent, some 2.5 points behind Scotland’s rate of 92.3 per cent.

The Kingdom’s health board has been particularly slow in vaccinating 16-17 year-olds: while 60.6 per cent of all Scots teens eligible for the jab have taken it up, less than half of young Fifers have done so.

The Kingdom has also been slower to deliver first doses to 30-39-year-olds and second doses to the 18-29 and 40-49 age brackets; for the latter it is 11.7 percentage points behind, at 83.7 per cent.

Health chiefs are continuing to battle misinformation around the safety of coronavirus vaccines, which has been stoked and shared online since the start of the pandemic.

Dr Chris McKenna, medical director of NHS Fife and an A&E doctor, says those who refuse to get jabbed and end up contracting the virus are “full of regret”.

“If I have any message it would be to get vaccinated,” he told a meeting of Fife’s Health and Social Care Partnership last month.

“The people coming into hospital who are unwell are unvaccinated. If you haven’t had your vaccination, please go get it.”

Vaccination clinics are available across Fife, with no appointment necessary. You can find details of your nearest drop-in at www.nhsfife.org/dropinclinics.