Vaccines for older adults
BMJ 2021; 372 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n188 (Published 22 February 2021) Cite this as: BMJ 2021;372:n188
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Dear Editor
Cunningham et al outline aspects of vaccination that are important for older people, such as immunosenescence, the relevant epidemiology of infectious diseases, and worse outcomes in this group. Given these issues are well established, it remains deeply disappointing that clinical trials in Covid-19, including for vaccines, mainly excluded older people (1). This point remains under-recognised and has been passively accepted by societies that have tolerated or espoused ageist narratives from many quarters. Nobody could fail to recognise the enormous impact that the pandemic has had on the older population, whether or not they had Covid-19. Once again, we find ourselves in a situation where we know what is right but we fail to do it (2).
Surely this must be the last time that we have to learn this lesson?
References:
1. Helfand BKI, Webb M, Gartaganis SL, Fuller L, Kwon C, Inouye SK. The Exclusion of Older Persons From Vaccine and Treatment Trials for Coronavirus Disease 2019—Missing the Target. JAMA Intern Med. 2020;180(11):1546–1549. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2020.5084
2. Witham DW, Gordon AL, Henderson EJ, Harwood R, Pandemic research for older people: doing it better next time. Age Ageing. 50(2):276–278. https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afaa273
Competing interests: No competing interests
According to Figure N°2, the burden of Flu in Australia is wrong
Dear Editor,
This article contains Figure N°2 which shows: about 5 deaths per million population for Flu and about 1200 cases per million population. In Australia, flu deaths recently varied between 28-14 per million (2017-2019) and the cases were 310 000 in 2020 ie 12400 per million (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-11/early-outbreaks-to-blame-for-wors...).
The unit of the axis of this Figure N°2 is not mentioned. Is it possible that units for the x and y axis are per 100 000 population?
Regards
Competing interests: No competing interests