The logic within the research outline is silly. Unvaccinated people have a 72% higher rate of severe vehicle accidents than vaccinated drivers according to the study.
Could it be the difference between rural vs metropolitan populations; one drives frequently, for longer durations and distances, while the other does not?
Apparently, that type of commonsense possibility did not make it into the analysis. However, the authors of the study do suggest insurance companies should start considering insurance risk hikes based on vaccination status.
(Via Yahoo) – If you passed on getting the COVID vaccine, you might be a lot more likely to get into a car crash.
Or at least those are the findings of a new study published this month in The American Journal of Medicine. During the summer of 2021, Canadian researchers examined the encrypted government-held records of more than 11 million adults, 16% of whom hadn’t received the COVID vaccine.
They found that the unvaccinated people were 72% more likely to be involved in a severe traffic crash—in which at least one person was transported to the hospital—than those who were vaccinated. That’s similar to the increased risk of car crashes for people with sleep apnea, though only about half that of people who abuse alcohol, researchers found.
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.
Of course, skipping a COVID vaccine does not mean that someone will get into a car crash. Instead, the authors theorize that people who resist public health recommendations might also “neglect basic road safety guidelines.”
Why would they ignore the rules of the road? Distrust of the government, a belief in freedom, misconceptions of daily risks, “faith in natural protection,” “antipathy toward regulation,” poverty, misinformation, a lack of resources, and personal beliefs are potential reasons proposed by the authors.
The findings are significant enough that primary care doctors should consider counseling unvaccinated patients on traffic safety—and insurance companies might base changes to insurance policies on vaccination data, the authors suggest. (read more)
It’s a Canadian study, so start there.
