COVID Vaccines Have Already Saved 20 Million Lives

Nearly 20 million lives were saved by COVID-19 vaccines during their first year, but even more deaths could have been prevented if international targets for the shots had been reached, researchers reported on Thursday. The researchers used data from 185 countries to estimate that vaccines prevented 4.2 million COVID-19 deaths in India, 1.9 million in the United States, 1 million in Brazil, 631,000 in France, and 507,000 in the United Kingdom. An additional 600,000 deaths would have been prevented if the World Health Organization target of 40% vaccination coverage by the end of 2021 had been met, according to the study published Thursday in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases.

But now that the vaccines are available to children five and under, those same researchers say they’re optimistic that the number will only increase in the second year of availability.

The findings highlight both the achievements and the shortcomings of the vaccination campaign, but the main takeaway is that 19.8 million COVID-19 deaths were prevented, based on estimates of how many more deaths than usual occurred during the time period. Using only reported COVID-19 deaths, the same model yielded 14.4 million deaths averted by vaccines.

With vaccines, treatments, and other tools widely available, more than 220 million Americans are vaccinated, more than 100 million Americans have their booster shot, and daily deaths due to COVID-19 are down 90%.

We've come a long way in our fight against COVID-19.

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) June 23, 2022

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The researchers did not include how the virus might have mutated differently in the absence of vaccines. And they did not factor in how lockdowns or mask-wearing might have changed if vaccines weren’t available.