Covid vaccines have averted 3MILLION deaths in America, report finds
- More than 120 million Covid infections were prevented by the shots, it found
- The report likely underestimates the full impact of vaccines, the researchers said
- Two years ago tomorrow the first person in the US got the shot outside a trial
Covid vaccines have averted more than three million deaths in the US during the pandemic, a report has found.
Without them, there would have been 1.5 times the number of infections, 3.8 times more hospitalizations and 4.1 times more deaths, The Commonwealth Fund suggested.
Meanwhile, Pfizer has forecast up to $15bn in annual revenue by 2030 from its shots – news that will please shareholders after the company was expected to take a financial hit due to a decline in vaccine demand.
And Democrats have attacked Pfizer over its plan to quadruple the price of its Covid shot next year — describing the firm of ‘pure and deadly greed’.
Researchers compared the number of Covid infections per 100,000 people in the US (shown by the yellow line) to the number of infections that would have occurred without vaccinations (shown by the blue line). The report by The Commonwealth Fund estimated 120 million Covid infections were prevented by the shots
The graph shows the increase in the share of people in the US who have received the initial course of Covid shots. A total of 655 million Covid vaccines have been administered since December 2021, when nurse Sandra Lindsay became the first person in the US to get a Covid vaccine outside of a clinical trial
The report found that the 655 million Covid shots administered over those two years have prevented more than three million additional deaths. A total of 798,000 deaths have been recorded since December 12 2020
The White House is offering discounts on groceries to Americans who get the new bivalent Covid booster in a desperate bid to boost uptake of the vaccine.
People who get the Omicron-specific shot at CVS, Safeway, Winn-Dixie, or Rite Aid will get up to $20 off their purchases this winter.
It comes amid a soaring inflation crisis that has driven up the price of household staples.
A recent American Farm Bureau report found Thanksgiving dinner this year will cost a whopping 20 per cent more than last year.
The new booster incentive comes ahead of a potential spike in Covid cases and hospitalizations this winter which could put pressure on already-overstretched hospitals.
Health workers are already grappling with the worst flu outbreak in 10 years and admissions caused by the common cold virus RSV — with both surges blamed on lockdowns suppressing people’s immunity to seasonal bugs.
The Covid bivalent rollout has been sluggish so far with just over 11 per cent of eligible Americans five and over having rolled up their sleeves for the shot.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is recommending aged five years and upwards gets the bivalent booster.
This contrasts with Denmark and Norway which are no longer offering jabs to non-seniors, while Sweden has said only those over 18 years old should get the shots.
Tomorrow will be two years to the day that nurse Sandra Lindsay became the first person in the US to get a Covid vaccine outside of a clinical trial.
A report from the The Commonwealth Fund published today found that the 655 million Covid shots administered over those two years have prevented more than three million additional deaths.
A total of 82 million infections, 4.8 million hospitalizations, and 798,000 deaths have been recorded since December 12 2020.
Without vaccination, there would have been 1.5 times the number of infections, 3.8 times more hospitalizations and 4.1 times more deaths.
Almost 120 million more Covid infections have been stopped by the shots, the report said.
And the losses would have caused more than $1 trillion in extra medical costs.
Scientists used a computer model of disease transmission to simulate what would have happened without any jabs.
The model included age rankings, risk factors, and the dynamics and infection and vaccination to compare the pandemic’s true trajectory with a scenario if no one got the protective shots.
A limitation of the study was that it only looked at how the virus affected the US.
American-developed shots were also used around the world, and without them, other new variants could have sprung up or there may have been more imported Covid cases into the US.
This means the report likely underestimates the impact of the Covid vaccine, the researchers said.
Increasing the uptake of the booster will be crucial to preventing future hospitalizations, the report added.
Meanwhile, Pfizer announced on Monday that its annual revenue from its mRNA vaccines could reach up to $15 billion by 2030.
It will be a relief to shareholders after the company was expected to take a financial hit due to a decline in vaccine demand.
Shares of the New York City-based company rose almost 2 percent to $52.59 after the news was shared.
Pfizer’s revenue is predicted to top $100 billion this year — more than double its pre-pandemic earnings — thanks to its shots and antiviral Paxlovid.
The company’s manufacturing of the mRNA vaccine, which it developed with German partner BioNTech SE, has given it a monopoly on future vaccines using the technology.
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