Commonwealth Fund: COVID-19 vaccine prevented more than 18M hospitalizations, 3M deaths

Since the COVID-19 vaccine has been approved, the shot has prevented more than 18 million hospitalizations and 3 million deaths, according to a new analysis. 

The analysis, released Tuesday by the Commonwealth Fund, comes as the Biden administration has pressed for Americans to get a bivalent booster dose to protect against the highly transmissible omicron variant. 

“The swift development of the vaccine, emergency authorization to distribute widely, and rapid rollout have been instrumental in curbing hospitalization and death, while mitigating socioeconomic repercussions of the pandemic,” the analysis said. 

Commonwealth Fund researchers relied on a computer model of COVID-19 transmission to estimate the number of deaths and hospitalizations averted from December 2020 through November 2022. 

Since the vaccine was approved near the end of 2020, more than 655 million doses have been administered and 80% of the U.S. population has gotten at least one dose.

“Without vaccination, there would have been nearly 120 million more COVID-19 infections,” the analysis said.

In addition to the lives saved, the vaccination program helped save the U.S. $1.15 trillion in medical costs that otherwise would have occurred. 

Curbing the hospitalizations has also been critical as hospitals are currently fighting a labor shortage and high levels of flu and other respiratory viruses. 

“COVID-19 vaccination has preserved hospital resources for individuals who would otherwise have not received timely care,” the Commonwealth Fund said. 

Overall, since December 2020 there have been 82 million COVID-19 infections alongside nearly 5 million hospitalizations and 798,000 deaths. 

“Without vaccination, the U.S. would have experienced 1.5 times more infections, 3.8 times more hospitalizations and 4.1 times more deaths,” the analysis said. 

The findings come as the latest bivalent booster rolled out earlier this year has not gained a lot of traction.

Last month, the Biden administration rolled out a six-week campaign aimed at encouraging booster shots before the end of the year. 

However, the federal government could take a back seat in the push to purchase and distribute COVID-19 vaccines. Administration officials have said they are running low on funding for the vaccines as efforts for new money have stalled in Congress. 

A recent analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation showed that the total cost for commercial payers to purchase booster shots could run between $6.2 billion and $29.7 billion a year.