Apr 22, 2022 - Health

More than 230,000 U.S. COVID deaths were preventable, analysis finds

Adriel Bettelheim

A hospital bed. — Photo: Paul Bersebach/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images

Roughly 234,000 COVID deaths since last June could have been prevented with a primary series vaccination, according to a newly updated Kaiser Family Foundation analysis.

Why it matters: The deaths account for 60% of total adult COVID deaths since June and a quarter of the nearly 1 million fatalities since the pandemic began.

The big picture: The researchers say COVID-19 vaccines remain highly effective in preventing hospitalization and death — even in the face of new, highly contagious variants like Omicron.

CDC estimates that in February and March, unvaccinated people were 10 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than people were vaccinated with at least the primary series.
The analysis didn't attempt to estimate the potential effect of booster protection.
Researchers used Kaiser tracking data for COVID deaths and a CDC dataset from 25 jurisdictions that shows the share of adult deaths that are among unvaccinated and vaccinated people.

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More than 230,000 U.S. COVID deaths were preventable, analysis finds

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