The number of people ending up in hospital as a result of Covid-19 infections would be three times as high without vaccines, the RIVM has concluded.

The public health agency said vaccination had saved 88,000 hospitalisations between the start of August 2021 and the end of August 2022, the vast majority (68,000) among people aged over 60.

Over the same period 45,000 people were taken to hospital with coronavirus, figures compiled by the National Intensive Care Evaluation (NICE) show.

The RIVM’s calculation is based on the number of vaccine doses given – both initial doses and boosters – and the estimated effectiveness of the vaccine per day, taking into account the fact that immunity takes several weeks to build up and declines in the months afterwards.

‘Vaccinated people have a smaller chance of infecting others. As a result fewer people become ill who otherwise may have been taken into hospital,’ the agency said.