The Western European countries that have suffered the lowest Covid-related mortality are those that took health restrictions early enough and rolled out vaccination to the elderly as quickly as possible, a study published on Monday concluded.
Conducted by researchers from the Pasteur Institute and published in the journal BMC Global and Public Health, the study compared the situation in 13 Western European countries between 2020 and 2022, the peak of the Covid epidemic.
They measured excess mortality, that is, the excess of deaths compared to those expected in normal times.
Studies of this type have already been conducted in a larger number of countries. But the interest here is to measure what factors may have influenced mortality in countries that are all developed and benefit from health systems with generally equivalent performance.
The authors provide two answers: "The rapid deployment of vaccines to the most vulnerable", particularly the elderly, from 2021. And, before that, when the epidemic arrived in spring 2020, "the early implementation of non-pharmaceutical interventions".
The latter term essentially refers to the health restrictions imposed in most countries in response to Covid, first and foremost the strict lockdowns of early 2020.
The countries that fared best at the start of the epidemic were those that imposed their restrictions before their hospitals were overloaded: Norway, for example.
Conversely, the United Kingdom, which was the slowest to implement restrictions, suffered by far the highest mortality in the early months of the epidemic. Other countries, such as France, are in the middle.
Finally, one case stands out as a contrast as it has focused controversy on its management of the epidemic: Sweden, which quickly put in place light restrictions but without going as far as a lockdown.
In the first months of the epidemic, mortality there gradually increased to significantly exceed that of its Scandinavian neighbors, Denmark and Norway. On the other hand, the latter experienced a sharp increase in late 2021 and early 2022, while Sweden was spared.
Ultimately, these three countries remain those, along with Ireland, which are doing best over the whole of 2020-2022.
Conversely, Italy, then Belgium and the United Kingdom, appear to be the hardest hit.
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