MADRID – The Spanish Ministry of Health is optimistic regarding the latest report on the fall in corona death rates. The May death figures have never seen such a significant drop during the entire corona pandemic. A decline for a clearly identifiable reason.
Through the so-called Monitorización de la Mortalidad Diaria (MoMo), the National Epidemiological Centre in Spain monitors all figures and compares them with the average death rates in Spain.
Vaccination causes decrease in excess mortality in Spain
The month of May gives cause for a festive mood because the death rate has never fallen so fast. Even during the better times of summer 2020, the death rate didn’t drop as drastically. The cause of this drop in deaths is the progress being made with vaccination in Spain. However, since the arrival of the vaccines in December 2020, the decline did not start immediately. It only became visible in March 2021.
Great contrast with a year ago in Spain
In the period studied, from 3 to 22 May, there is an excess mortality (Covid-19 deaths minus average expected deaths) of 6.7%. For comparison; between March 10 and May 9 of 2020, the excess mortality was no less than 65.2%. In absolute numbers, at the beginning of May, an average of 78.2 people died from Covid-19 per day. These numbers are in stark contrast to the daily average of 772 deaths between March and May 2020.
The fall in corona death rates continues
Something these statistics don’t show yet is that the decline is continuing. In the last working days, 54, 33 and 17 people have died per day respectively. Regardless, Spain will remain below 2,000 deaths in May, a number not seen since August 2020.
Yet almost 1,000 deaths in older target group
The vaccines ensure that the vast majority of vaccinated people are protected. Yet in the first three weeks of May, 983 people over the age of 74 died, despite almost all of them being fully vaccinated.
The group with the greatest excess mortality is not by definition the oldest age group. People between the ages of 65 and 74 are particularly affected; this represents an excess mortality of 13.8%. According to experts, one of the main reasons is that a large part of this group has not yet had their second shot. The people in this group are also still reasonably mobile and their social circle is larger than people who are older.
