The risk of death from Covid is 93% lower for people who are fully vaccinated than unvaccinated people, new research suggests.
Mortality rates for coronavirus deaths were found to be “consistently lower” across all age groups for those who had received an extra dose.
This compared with those who had received no doses, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The research used age-standardised mortality rates, which take into account differences in age structure and population size, to allow for comparisons between vaccination groups.
Among fully-vaccinated people in England who had received a booster or third dose at least 21 days previously, the age-adjusted risk of death from Covid between July and December last was 93.4% lower.
This compared with unvaccinated people and it was 81.2% lower for those who had received only two doses of the vaccine.
For much of 2021, mortality rates for death involving Covid-19 for those who had received two doses remained well below the equivalent figures for people who had not been vaccinated, the ONS found.
But rates among double-jabbed people started to increase at the end of last year, jumping from 92.0 deaths per 100,000 in October to 221.1 in November and 367.7 in December.
This may have been driven by a change in the composition of the double-jabbed group, with most older people having received a booster or third dose by this point, the ONS said.
It might also be connected to “waning protection from prior vaccination”.
The mortality rate for unvaccinated people was 462.2 per 100,000 in December where it was just 33.1 for people within 21 days of an extra dose and 24.5 for those more than 21 days after an extra dose.
The figure was far below the equivalent figures for those who were single-jabbed (377.7) and double-jabbed (367.7).
Mortality rates should not be taken as a measure of vaccine effectiveness, the ONS stressed.
Figures have been adjusted to account for differences in age and population size, but there may be other differences, such as underlying health issues, that could affect mortality rates.
Researchers also found that from July to December 2021, people who had received only one dose of vaccine were similar to those for unvaccinated people, particularly for older age groups.
This was possibly because of the longer length of time since people had received a first dose, leading to waning protection from prior vaccination.
It may also be due to “the exclusion of people who had received a first and third dose but not a second dose from the analysis, because of incomplete vaccination records,” the ONS added.
