Aged care residents with COVID-19 who received more vaccine doses had lower rates of deaths due to COVID-19

This section reports on deaths due to COVID-19 for aged care residents with a COVID-19 diagnosis by vaccination status to 31 December 2022. See the Deaths due to COVID-19 section for definitions used in this analysis.

Among aged care residents with a COVID-19 diagnosis, the percentage who died due to COVID-19 was:

  • at least 2 times lower for those who received 2 or more COVID-19 vaccine doses in the pre-Omicron period (17% of those with a dementia record, 12% of those with no dementia record) compared with residents who received 0–1 dose (34% and 30%, respectively) (Figure 5.4)
  • about 4 times lower for those who received 3 or more COVID-19 vaccine doses during the Omicron period (3.5% of those with dementia, 2.6% of those with no dementia record) compared with unvaccinated residents (14% and 10%, respectively) (Figure 5.4).

The percentage of deaths due to COVID-19 was lower across all age groups for those who had 2 or more COVID-19 vaccine doses in the pre-Omicron period, or 3 or more doses in the Omicron period, than those who had 0–1 dose (Figure 5.4).

Figure 5.4: Number and percentage of aged care residents with a COVID-19 diagnosis who died due to COVID-19, by COVID-19 period, number of COVID-19 vaccine doses, dementia status and age group (to 31 December 2022)

A series of bar charts show residents with COVID-19 who had 3 or more COVID-19 vaccine doses had lower rates of deaths due to COVID-19.

A series of bar charts show residents with COVID-19 who had 3 or more COVID-19 vaccine doses had lower rates of deaths due to COVID-19.

Notes:

  1. Deaths due to COVID-19 include those that occurred after a reported COVID-19 diagnosis, regardless of time period, or up to 21 days prior to the COVID-19 diagnosis date, due to potential delays in notifications.
  2. Data were not available for Western Australia. 
  3. Number of vaccine doses was calculated as the total number of COVID-19 vaccinations recorded on the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) 14 days or more prior to a person's latest COVID-19 diagnosis. See Technical notes for further details.
  4. Data for vaccine doses were aggregated where necessary due to data confidentiality rules for small counts.
  5. To aid the interpretation of findings, 95% confidence intervals are included.

For downloadable data tables, see Table S5.4 in Data tables (COVID-19 vaccination and antiviral use among aged care residents with a COVID-19 diagnosis). 

Lower rates of deaths due to COVID-19 after vaccination were seen across all levels of care needs

To explore the impact of care needs on COVID-19 vaccination status and deaths due to COVID-19, Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI) care needs data were analysed for the pre-Omicron and Omicron periods (see ACFI data for methods). 

The percentage of residents who died due to COVID-19 was lower across all levels of care need for those who had 3 or more vaccine doses than those with 0–1 dose. For example, in the Omicron period, among people with a dementia record with high care needs in the Activities of daily living domain, 15% of those with 0–1 vaccine dose died due to COVID-19, compared with 4.3% of those with 3 or more vaccine doses (Figure 5.5).

Figure 5.5: Number and percentage of aged care residents with a COVID-19 diagnosis who died due to COVID-19, by COVID-19 period, dementia status, number of COVID-19 vaccine doses and level of care needs in the ACFI Activities of daily living, Cognition and behaviour and Complex health care domains 

A series of bar charts show lower percentages of deaths due to COVID-19 among residents who had 3 or more COVID-19 vaccine doses, across all levels of care needs.

A series of bar charts show lower percentages of deaths due to COVID-19 among residents who had 3 or more COVID-19 vaccine doses, across all levels of care needs.

Notes:

  1. Deaths due to COVID-19 include those that occurred after a reported COVID-19 diagnosis, regardless of time period, or up to 21 days prior to the COVID-19 diagnosis date, due to potential delays in notifications.
  2. This analysis only includes residents who had an ACFI assessment in the linked data dated on or before the date of their latest COVID-19 diagnosis. ACFI levels were taken from the latest ACFI assessment and were aggregated where necessary to ensure data confidentiality rules for small counts.
  3. Number of vaccine doses was calculated as the total number of COVID-19 vaccinations recorded on the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) 14 days or more prior to a person's latest COVID-19 diagnosis. 
  4. Data for vaccine doses were aggregated where necessary due to data confidentiality rules for small counts.
  5. Abbreviations: ACFI: Aged Care Funding Instrument.
  6. To aid the interpretation of findings, 95% confidence intervals are included.

For downloadable data tables, see Table S5.5 in Data tables (COVID-19 vaccination and antiviral use among aged care residents with a COVID-19 diagnosis).

Time since last COVID-19 vaccine dose

Vaccine effectiveness has been shown to be lower at 6 months from primary dose and at 9 months from booster doses (Menegale et al. 2023). Among residents with a dementia record who had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, the percentage who died due to COVID-19 was lowest among those who had their last dose 1–3 months prior (3.8%) compared with those whose last dose was 12 or more months prior (6.9%) (Table S5.6). There was no significant difference among residents with no dementia record (Table S5.6).

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