New Delhi: A new study published in the JAMA Health Forum has estimated that more than 2.5 million deaths were averted globally between 2020 and 2024 due to COVID-19 vaccinations. According to the analysis, for every 5,400 doses of COVID-19 vaccines administered, one death was prevented.
The research, conducted by scientists from the Catholic University of Milan, Italy, and Stanford University in the US, analysed publicly available global population data to estimate how many people died from COVID-19 and whether they were vaccinated before their infection.
“We compared this data with the estimated data modelled in the absence of COVID-19 vaccination and were then able to calculate the numbers of people who were saved by COVID-19 vaccines and the years of life gained as a result of them,” said Angelo Maria Pezzullo, a researcher in general and applied hygiene at the Catholic University of Milan.
The study found that 82 per cent of the lives saved involved people who were vaccinated before they encountered the virus. Additionally, 90 per cent of the averted deaths were among people aged 60 and above, highlighting the vaccines’ effectiveness in protecting older adults. A significant 57 per cent of the lives saved occurred during the Omicron period.
The research also estimated that COVID-19 vaccinations helped save 14.8 million years of life globally, which translates to one year of life saved for every 900 vaccine doses administered. About three-quarters of these years were saved among individuals aged 60 and older.
“Before ours, several studies tried to estimate lives saved by vaccines with different models and in different periods or parts of the world,” said Stefania Boccia, professor of general and applied hygiene at the Catholic University of Milan. “This one is the most comprehensive because it is based on worldwide data, it also covers the Omicron period, it also calculates the number of years of life that was saved, and it is based on fewer assumptions about the pandemic trend.”
In a commentary published alongside the study, Monica Gandhi of the University of California San Francisco’s Center for AIDS Research wrote, “Vaccines save lives and the only way to get through this pandemic was always immunity; it is much safer to provide immunity to an older person through a vaccine than through natural infection.”
She added that the model used in this study could be helpful in guiding responses in future pandemics: “Models such as the one used and presented in the study could help mitigate the damage caused by widely restrictive policies, yet allow protection for those needing it the most.”
(With inputs from PTI)
