PODCAST | Vaccines and vaccine hesitation

Covid-19 vaccines are effective in protecting against infections and most specifically against severe Covid-19 disease and death. For those who have already been vaccinated, the vaccines have shown more than 80% protection against severe disease.

“These vaccines went through all the standard testing processes, and the clinical trials ran to scale and went through all the different gates required for approval,” says Dr Ronald Whelan, chief commercial officer at Discovery Health.

In discussing some of the global vaccine trends, what the data says about the first, second and third waves, how to register to get vaccinated on the health scheme’s portal and more, Discovery Health’s podcast aims to help South Africans understand the importance of getting vaccinated.

Listen to the podcast below:

If you missed the first episode, listen below:

Based on the analysis of figures and trends from Discovery Health's data pool, the Covid-19 hospital admission rate was 16.4% in the second wave and 12,4% in the third wave, a decline of 24% from the second to third wave. These trends are likely driven by a range of factors including vaccination, the impact of the Delta variant and geographic distribution of infections across the different waves.

This article was paid for by Discovery Health.