December 19, 2022

Covid-19 Vaccines Have Saved Millions of American Lives; Booster Shots are Critical

The Covid-19 vaccines have kept more than 18.5 million people in the US out of the hospital and saved more than 3.2 million lives, according to a new study by the Commonwealth Fund and Yale University.

Additional data show that while the vaccines have been critical in getting the country back to normal, Covid hospitalizations remain at least three times higher among seniors than other age groups. Only about one-third of older adults have received an updated booster shot to date.

“The numbers don’t lie,” said Joseph Peters, Jr., Secretary-Treasurer of the Alliance. “Seniors have a much better chance of staying out of the hospital if they stay up to date on their booster shots.”

Despite the improvement in hospitalization numbers, Covid cases overall are once again on the rise. In response the Biden administration has restarted a program, paused in September, that provided hundreds of millions of Covid tests through the Postal Service. Households are now able to order four tests at covidtests.gov, with shipments beginning next week.