Not even mad at them.
More than four in 10 over-80s in England breaking lockdown rules after receiving one vaccine dose
More than four in 10 over-80s in
England may have met with someone outside of their support bubble within three weeks of receiving the first jab of the Covid vaccine, an official survey suggests.
The Office for National Statistics has reported that almost half (49%) of the 2,070 over-80s surveyed perceived Covid to be a major or significant risk to them personally without vaccination, but this decreased to 5% if they were to receive both doses of the vaccine.
Among those who had received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, 41% reported having experienced side effects. But this has not discouraged the vast majority from obtaining the second dose and about 19 in 20 would be likely to encourage others to be vaccinated.
The risk of mortality from Covid-19 increases substantially with age and the most recent data from the last three months of 2020 shows that the average age of death related to Covid in England and Wales was 81.
Tim Gibbs, public services analysis team at the ONS, said:
The rollout of the Covid vaccination is, no doubt, a huge relief to many people aged over 80, as we can see that almost half of all them, when asked, considered Covid to be a major or significant personal risk before receiving the vaccination – this decreases to just 5% having the same concern after hypothetically receiving both doses of the vaccine.
It will hopefully also improve a wider quality of life for this group. We can see that one third of over 80s who had received two or more doses of the vaccine reported they would be more likely to attend a hospital for a medical reason since being vaccinated.
We hope to start to see these wider positive effects of the vaccine rollout as it continues across more age groups in the coming weeks.