Yet again, one of the world’s most vaccinated nations grapples with another near-record surge of SARS-CoV-2 infections, breakthrough hospitalizations, and deaths. This time, TrialSite visits Portugal, a Southern European nation of 10.3 million people with a fully vaccinated rate of approximately 86%. Adults are nearly universally vaccinated. The nation has maintained a rate of 80% or higher for fully vaccinated people since October 2021. By January 2022, according to Newsweek, Prime Minister Antonio Costa declared that the fully vaccinated rate by then was actually 89%, and 3 million Portuguese, or about 29% of the population, had already been boosted. But what is now occurring on Europe’s southwestern tip had been seen in May of this year in other places such as Gibraltar, Iceland, Australia, and New Zealand. Intense clusters of infection, hospitalization and even death among the vaccinated establishing that this pandemic is very much a pandemic for everyone.

Omicron Subvariant Wave

According to recent press from Reuters that acknowledged the problem, 90% of the new infections are driven by a Omicron subvariant known as BA.5, according to Ricardo Jorge with the Public Health Institute. BA.4 is also in circulation there, and both BA.5 and BA.4 originated from South Africa.

According to Health Minister Mata Temido in an interview with an RTP broadcaster, “Portugal is probably the European country with the highest prevalence of this sub-lineage, and this partly explains the high number (of cases) we are seeing.”

The Portugal News reported that between May 24 and May 30, the nation “recorded 175,766 infections, 220 deaths associated with COVID-19, and an increase in hospitalizations and intensive care.”

The Numbers

Portugal’s record-breaking surges due to Omicron started at the beginning of 2022, a time when the overwhelming percentage of the population should have been protected, however, the vaccines don’t stop viral transmission after several weeks (although they may reduce the velocity of infection).

See first graph by quarter new cases below.

New COVID-19 Cases in Portugal:

Note, the record number of cases occurred January 30th: the nation’s adult population already was near-universally vaccinated.

Vaccination Rates & New Cases:

As visualized above, the vaccination rates in the country are superimposed over new SARS-CoV-2 infections. Clearly, the surge of new cases by January 2022 is unprecedented, right at the time when the population was near-universally vaccinated.

Hospitalization and ICU with Vaccination Rate:

While the COVID-19 vaccines have helped reduce hospitalization and ICU entry, unfortunately, these are now on the rise again due to the sheer magnitude of community transmission associated with Omicron. There are so many infections that more hospitalization admission is now occurring, particularly with the elderly and vulnerable.

COVID-19 Deaths

In Portugal, the deadliest part of the pandemic was early February, right before the vaccination program commenced. The vaccination program has markedly reduced the threat of death, as TrialSite has reported in some nations (but not in all nations such as Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea, for example). However, much like hospitalization and ICU entry, deaths, unfortunately, are on the rise in vulnerable populations that are fully vaccinated. By January, nearly 30% of the population was boosted. TrialSite will monitor the situation carefully.

Portugal COVID-19 Deaths

https://www.trialsitenews.com/a/sars-cov-2-omicron-subvariants-rages-in-near-universally-vaccinated-portugal-8cb42a8a