Since December 2019, over 1.5 million SARS-CoV-2-related fatalities have been recorded in the World Health Organization European Region - 90.2% in people ≥ 60 years. We calculated lives saved in this age group by COVID-19 vaccination in 33 countries from December 2020 to November 2021, using weekly reported deaths and vaccination coverage. We estimated that vaccination averted 469,186 deaths (51% of 911,302 expected deaths; sensitivity range: 129,851–733,744; 23–62%). Impact by country ranged 6–93%, largest when implementation was early.
Mass gatherings are regarded as potential risks for transmission of infectious diseases, and might compromise the health system of countries in which they are hosted. The evidence for increased transmission of infectious diseases at international sporting mass gatherings that attract many visitors from all over the world is not clear, and the evidence base for public health surveillance, epidemiology, and response at events such as the Olympics is small. However, infectious diseases are a recognised risk, and public health planning is, and should remain, a crucial part of the overall planning of sporting events. In this Series paper, we set out the planning and the surveillance systems that were used to monitor public health risks during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in the summer of 2012, and draw attention to the public health issues-infectious diseases and chemical, radiation, and environmental hazards-that arose. Although the absolute risk of health-protection problems, including infectious diseases, at sporting mass gatherings is small, the need for reassurance of the absence of problems is higher than has previously been considered; this could challenge conventional public health surveillance systems. Recognition of the limitations of health-surveillance systems needs to be part of the planning for future sporting events.
Mass gatherings are attended by an increasingly global audience and thus raise the concern of possible acute public health risks not normally encountered by the host population. The potential acute risks to individual and population health include communicable diseases. The communicable disease risks include emerging and re-emerging diseases in host and visiting populations. In this review, we provide an overview of the literature on respiratory infections at mass gatherings, then describe the impact of novel coronavirus 2012 (nCoV), an emerging respiratory disease virus, on the preparations for mass gathering. Although, nCoV emerged prior to the 2012 Hajj pilgrimage season, Muslims completed their religious duty without acquiring infections by nCoV. Clearly, the global nature of mass gatherings and their potential risks to international health make it imperative that research on such events and guidelines produced for their management are relevant to diverse contexts and are a collaborative effort between global experts.
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