A new study found that over 90,000 COVID-19 deaths from June 2021 to September 2021 likely would have been prevented with vaccinations.
COVID-19 vaccines have been available to all adults in the U.S. since early May 2021, with older and higher-risk adults in the U.S. having access even earlier.
Therefore, the study conducted by Health System Tracker started looking at data in June 2021 as adults in the U.S. generally could have been fully vaccinated and protected from most cases of severe illness or death due to the virus.
The study summed up the COVID-19 deaths in each month since June 2021 and subtracted COVID-19 deaths among children ages 0-17. It then removed COVID-related deaths that occurred in those who were vaccinated and had breakthrough cases.
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It then found that if all unvaccinated people who died from the virus chose to get the shot, some deaths might not have been preventable since vaccines are not 100% effective. However, a CDC study found that the vaccine was 91% effective against COVID-19 deaths from June 20-July 17 and 94% effective from April 4-June 19.
The study concluded that 91% of COVID-19 deaths among unvaccinated people likely would have been prevented if they had been inoculated against the virus, bringing the total of lives saved to 90,000.
The study went on to say that most of the preventable deaths occurred in the last month, and in September 2021 alone, approximately 49,000 deaths would have been averted.
