Indonesia, the 4th largest country on Earth (278 million people), has recorded essentially zero cases & deaths for three straight months:
Cases in Indonesia disappeared at the end of September, despite continued high testing rates.
The share of tests returning positive fell to below 0.4% and has remained there for months.
Obviously, the disappearance of covid in Indonesia can no be credited to vaccination, since less than 6% of the population was vaccinated when cases peaked in mid-July (and we have numerous examples of high vax countries with skyrocketing cases).
A seroprevelance study from Jakarta indicates that ~30% of Indonesia had recovered from covid by the end of February and that only 1:12 cases were being detected. If that same ratio held through this Summer, >90% of Indonesians have been infected.
It appears that, like India, covid has already infected the vast majority of the population of Indonesia and that infection acquired immunity eliminated transmission in that nation.
Cumulative deaths in Indonesia have topped out at 500 per million (1/4 to 1/6 the rate in Europe the Americas).
Why have so few died when everyone has been infected (and this was all pre-Omicron)?
The NIH published study estimates an IFR of 0.08% in Indonesia.
1. Indonesia has a healthy population pyramid with just 10% older than 60 years, compared to 26% older than 60 in Europe:
2. Indonesia has very little obesity, at just 7%, versus 20% to 40% in Europe & Americas.
3. Indonesia is a tropical nation with relatively low levels of vitamin D deficiency. Multiple studies from Indonesia have shown that essentially all recorded covid deaths occurred in those with insufficient vitamin D:
So, it appears that covid has infected everyone in Indonesia while causing relatively little morbidity and that the pandemic (if it ever existed) ended in Indonesia during the Summer of 2021.
Unfortunately, this hopeful message has not seemed to reach the government:
From this video, it does appear that the people of Jakarta have returned to something close to normalcy - unfortunately with far too many people still wearing utterly useless masks while outdoors.
By the way, Omicron now accounts for 1/3 of all cases in Indonesia...
Thus far, however, natural immunity still seems to be holding up against Omicron in Indonesia.
However, based upon S. Africa, even if Omicron does reinfect some %, I wouldn't expect significant deaths.
All three of these countries have the same reported Omicron mix.
Two of these countries have vaccinated nearly all adults; one of these countries has had nearly everyone recover from infection.
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Japan, Korea, Cambodia are three of the most vaccinated nations on Earth (80% fully vax). Yet each has had their largest "wave" post-mass vaccination; more interestingly, there has been no "de-coupling" of cases & deaths evident in Asia.
Do vaccines not reduce severity in Asia?
More to the point - severity has always been so inconsequentially low in eastern Asia that vaccination was unnecessary in this region and likely redundant of immunity from prior exposure to similar viruses.
There are 560 million people living in this region of Asia, none of whom, apparently, ever faced a significant mortality risk from covid-19.
Do masks magically work in Asia but not Europe or America?
Israel: first to initiate mass vaccination & first to require boosters. Now, after 3-5 months, boosters are clearly failing to prevent infection/transmission, as well.
Israel is left with a choice: mandate a 4th dose or throw in the towel on mandatory vaccination.
With nearly all adults full vaccinated and the majority of adults boosted, Israel has seen a new seasonal wave begin with infections almost exclusively found amongst the vaccinated.
This is not what was promised one year ago when vaccines were approved.
In Israel, 70% of the population has been vaccinated, 64% fully vaccinated, but only 45% boosted.
This drop-off occurred despite the national vaccine passport mandating booster doses.
Why have 36% of those who initiated vaccination chosen not to get boosted?
a. Omicron intrinsically mild
b. Mildness specific to southern Africa
c. High immunity from prior infection
d. Testing catching more mild infections
e. Seasonality (Summer)
1 billion people live in central Africa and less than 5% have been fully vaccinated. Somehow, there have been fewer than 43K covid deaths reported in this region, total, since the beginning of the pandemic.
Has any modeler, PH official, or epidemiologist explained this?
The median age in this region is ~18 and obesity is low to moderate, so part of the answer is a lack of susceptible population.
But, based upon flu patterns, the covid pandemic lasted only a few months in this region - and the flu has been a larger concern for over a year.
Lack of testing doesn't explain this, either, as Rwanda has performed nearly as many tests per capital as Moldova, for instance, with 25 times fewer deaths.