Most coronavirus deaths are estimated to have been prevented by vaccines in high- and middle-income countries, and some 600,000 deaths would have been avoided if the World Health Organization (WHO) target of vaccinating 40% of each country’s population had been met.
Vaccines against Covid-19 saved about 19.8 million lives worldwide in the first year of the vaccination program (December 2020-December 2021), according to a new international scientific study.
Most deaths from coronavirus are estimated to have been prevented by vaccines in high- and middle-income countries (12.2 million). Another 600,000 deaths would have been avoided if the World Health Organization (WHO) had set a goal of vaccinating 40% of each country’s population by the end of 2021 – something that did not materialize.
The researchers, led by Dr. Oliver Watson Imperial College London, who published the article in the medical journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases, analyzed data for 185 countries. The mathematical modeling study estimates that vaccines reduced deaths that would otherwise have occurred by 63% (31.4 million).
79% of deaths prevented (15.5 million), are attributed to the immediate protection of vaccines against the serious disease, while the remaining 21% (4.3 million deaths) thanks to the indirect protection of vaccines due mainly to the reduced transmission of coronavirus.
«“Our findings provide the most comprehensive assessment to date of the remarkable global impact of vaccination on the Covid-19 pandemic,” Watson said. of a country. But more could have been done. If the WHO targets had been met, we estimate that about one in five lives lost to Covid-19 in low-income countries could have been saved.».
Since the start of coronavirus vaccination (December 8, 2020), almost two-thirds of the world’s population (66%) have taken at least one dose. His goal WHERE 70% of the world’s population was fully vaccinated by mid-2022. Despite rapid vaccination rates, more than 3.5 million deaths from Covid-19 have been reported worldwide.
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