LETTER | Expedite drive to vaccinate those aged 40 and above to reduce deaths

LETTER | As pointed out by Dr Lee Boon Chye our ex-health minister, the mortality rate for those aged 39 years and below was around 4 in 1000 cases. I would like to expound further regarding this matter.

I remember during my early days at college I learned about the 80/20 rule. It is also known as the Pareto principle, an aphorism that asserts that 80 percent of outcomes result from 20 percent of all causes for any given extent. 

In Covid-19 mortality cases, it is 99.6 percent of deaths for aged 40 and above and 0.4 percent of deaths for aged 39 and below, based on data received on those aged 39 years and below which was around four in 1000 cases.

From here, it is so important that in order to drastically reduce the mortality rate, we should place more emphasis on vaccinating this group who are aged 40 years and above as this will greatly lower the mortality rate and we will have very much fewer deaths. 

Once we have quickly vaccinated all those registered aged 40 years and above, then we can move on to vaccinating those aged 39 years and below.

Once again, we have to note that 99.6 percent of deaths are in the aged 40 years and above group and therefore 99 percent of the vaccines should be used on this aged group first. This will reduce deaths. We have to move fast.

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