Unvaccinated disproportionately represented in ACT COVID-19 deaths and hospitalisations

Data from ACT Health released to The Canberra Times has revealed only one person who died with COVID-19 in January had received a booster shot.

Eleven people died with the virus in January. Of those, five had received two doses of a COVID vaccine, two had received one dose and two were unvaccinated. The vaccination status of the other was unknown.

Over January, there were 22 patients admitted to intensive care in Canberra hospitals. Of these, 12 patients had received two doses, three patients had received three doses and seven were unvaccinated.

The intensive care figures appeared to be at odds with comments made by Chief Minister Andrew Barr earlier in the week when he said 80 per cent of people in intensive care over January were unvaccinated.

At one point in January there were five people in intensive care and four of those people were unvaccinated but over the entire month unvaccinated people only made up fewer than one-third of all patients.

In response to the difference between his public remarks and the actual numbers, Mr Barr said the data still showed unvaccinated people were over-represented.

"Vaccination is very important. The clear trend over the duration of the pandemic is that unvaccinated people are significantly over-represented in hospital and ICU relative to their share of the total community," he said.

Six of the people who died were residents at aged care facilities.

Three people were in their 90s, four were in their 80s, one was in their 60s, two were in their 50s and one person was in their 40s.

ACT Health did not release any information about underlying health conditions of those who had died.

Almost 99 per cent of Canberrans have received at least two COVID-19 vaccine doses. But authorities have expressed concern about a lag in booster shot take-up.

Only about 53 per cent of the population over 18 has received their third shot, falling behind government forecasts.

The interval between a person's second and third dose has been shortened to three months, meaning most Canberrans are eligible for their booster.

An ACT Health spokesman said it was hard to determine trends by vaccination status in the territory.

"Due to the relatively small numbers of death and ICU admission in the ACT it is not possible to identify trends by vaccination status," the spokesman said.

"However, with such a high vaccination rate in the ACT and with the current level of community transmission of COVID-19, we expect to see some severe illness and deaths from COVID-19 among vaccinated individuals."

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ACT Health does not reveal the vaccination statuses of individuals who die with COVID-19 due to privacy reasons but agreed to provide the information as part of a group. However, The Canberra Times had to wait more than a week for ACT Health to provide the data.

No data was provided about underlying health conditions, with the ACT Health spokesman saying this data was not routinely collected.

"ACT Health does not routinely collect comorbidity data for COVID-19 positive cases for reporting purposes," the spokesman said.

"Older age is a risk factor for severe disease and death, as are several underlying comorbidities.

"Commonwealth and NSW data reveals that approximately 80 per cent of deaths due to COVID-19 are in those aged 70 years and over."

Other states regularly provide data about vaccination statuses and underlying health conditions for COVID-related deaths and hospitalisations.

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