Surgeons participating in the international COVIDSurg Collaborative program urge to vaccinate patients against coronavirus before planned operations. In their opinion, this could save tens of thousands of lives a year. B A study published in the British Journal of Surgery found that 0.6% to 1.6% of patients worldwide fall ill with COVID-19 after elective surgery. Those who have had a coronavirus infection in the first 30 days after surgery have a 4-8 times higher risk of death compared to the average risk after surgery. Surgeons say a 70-year-old patient has a 2.8% risk of dying after surgery for cancer. This risk increases to 18.6% in the case of COVID-19. According to Medportal.ru, according to the calculations of surgeons, vaccination of 1,840 people at the age of 70 saves one life. One life is also saved by vaccination of 351 patients of the same age who are scheduled for surgery for cancer.

Therefore, surgeons believe that there should be a priority in vaccinating people who are preparing for planned operations. In total, according to scientists, vaccination of patients before operations around the world could save almost 60,000 lives a year.