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The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on Tuesday that a new report from the agency showed COVID-19 vaccinations may have helped prevent more than a quarter of a million cases of coronavirus and tens of thousands of deaths among the elderly.
In a statement detailing the report’s findings, HHS said the study – conducted by researchers from the HHS Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) office – found that the vaccinations were linked to a reduction of approximately 265,000 COVID-19 infections, 107,000 hospitalizations and 39,000 deaths among nearly 63 million Medicare beneficiaries between January and May 2021.
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“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.
Using a combination of data from person-level Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on county-level vaccination rates, the researchers compared the outcome rates to what their model predicted would have happened without any vaccination.
“Comparing the rates of these results to what our model predicts would have occurred without any vaccinations, we estimate that COVID-19 vaccinations were linked to estimated reductions of approximately 107,000 infections, 43,000 hospitalizations and 16,000 deaths in our study sample of 25.3 million beneficiaries, “the study authors said.” These estimates correspond to estimated reductions of approximately 265,000 infections, 107,000 hospitalizations and 39,000 deaths overall. of the Medicare population of 62.7 million people. “
Forty-eight states – excluding Texas and Hawaii, which did not provide county-level immunization estimates in CDC data – were included in the sample and the report says the difference in vaccination rates for people 65 years and older between lowest and highest counties and states by the end of May “highlights continued opportunity to leverage COVID-19 vaccinations to prevent hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID-19 ”.
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“Today’s report reflects the devastating effect COVID-19 has had on our vulnerable seniors and demonstrates that efforts to prioritize and immunize this group are directly linked to saving lives,” wrote the HHS. “More than 352,000 lives have been lost in the first nine months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Before vaccines became available, nearly 80% of those deaths were in people 65 and older who were also eligible for Medicare. “
The HHS noted that all racial and ethnic groups and all 48 states have seen a reduction in the number of deaths, hospitalizations and infections from COVID-19 linked to the increased vaccination rate, Indians of America and Alaska Native Medicare recipients registering the largest percent decrease in vaccine-related SARS-CoV. -2 infections, hospitalizations and deaths.
The study found that vaccines were linked to a reduction of about 5,600 deaths among nursing home health insurance recipients.
“For the period January to May 2021, when immunization decreased from 1% to 47% in adults aged 18 to 64 and from 1% to 80% in the elderly, the study found a decrease of 11 to 12% of weekly hospitalizations for COVID-19 and deaths among Medicare beneficiaries for every 10% increase in vaccination rates in the county, ”the HHS said.
The agency wrote that the report found that high immunization rates for all adults were even more protective for Medicare beneficiaries than just a high immunization rate among seniors.
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The HHS said these results further underscore the importance of vaccination for all eligible people in the United States.
According to CDC data, more than 185 million Americans are now fully immunized.
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