KEEPING up to date with COVID-19 immunisations is vital in this post-pandemic world - but researchers in Canada have now come up with yet another reason to get the jab.
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association this week has found that unvaccinated people are 72% more likely to be involved in severe traffic accidents.
In mid-2021 the researchers looked at the de-identified government records of more than 11 million adults, with the 16% of the population having not received the COVID vaccine at that time showing a much higher crash propensity.
"The excess risk of car crash posed by unvaccinated drivers exceeds the safety gains from modern automobile engineering advances, and also imposes risks on other road users," the authors wrote.
They noted that based on the statistics, unvaccinated people posed a similar risk of car crash to those with sleep apnoea, and about half the risk of those who abuse alcohol.
Rather than a physiological cause, the scientists postulated that those who resist public health recommendations "might also neglect basic road safety guidelines".
They suggested health professionals should consider counselling unvaccinated passengers about traffic safety, and warned that insurance companies may end up imposing higher premiums on those without the jab.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 16 Dec 22
To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 16 Dec 22
