COVID-19 vaccinations have blunted the worst waves of the pandemic, preventing millions of deaths, limiting strain on the U.S. healthcare system and producing “substantial cost savings” in healthcare spending, according to new estimates published Friday by the Commonwealth Fund.
From the first authorizations in December 2020 through March 2022, COVID-19 vaccination was estimated to have averted roughly 2.3 million deaths and 66.2 million additional infections, per the analysis.
Further, the push for shots in arms was found to have prevented 17 million hospitalizations in the U.S. and saved the country’s healthcare system just shy of $900 million in total spending, notwithstanding the country’s savings related to workplace absences and deaths.
