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(TNS) – COVID-19 vaccinations have likely prevented hospitalizations and deaths of tens of thousands of older and more vulnerable U.S. residents in the past five months, according to a new study from the Department of Health and Human Services social.
The report, released Tuesday, used individual Medicare claims and county-level vaccination rates to estimate the net reduction in coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths among the 62.7 million Medicare beneficiaries across the country. country. He concluded that the vaccinations had prevented an estimated 265,000 infections, 107,000 hospitalizations and 39,000 deaths between January and May.
In areas where vaccination rates are average to above average, experts found that deaths and hospitalizations declined more sharply than in areas where fewer residents sought to be vaccinated. The research, which drew on a sample of 25.3 million beneficiaries, further indicated that scaling up immunizations in low-rate areas had big benefits.
To illustrate this point, the study author cited Georgia, which currently has the lowest vaccination rate in the country.
Still, they estimated that vaccines reduced infections by 290, hospitalizations by 120, and deaths by 40 per 100,000 Medicare beneficiaries, according to study data.
“This report reaffirms what we regularly hear from states: COVID-19 vaccines save lives, prevent hospitalizations and reduce infections,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement.
Since mid-December, when the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine was first approved, an estimated 186 million Americans, just over half the country, have been fully vaccinated against the rapidly spreading disease .
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