Here's How Many COVID-19 Deaths Vaccines Have Prevented: Study

Vaccines prevented approximately 1.1 million additional COVID-19 deaths and more than 10.3 million additional COVID-19 hospitalizations in the U.S. by November 2021, according to a study.

An estimated 1,087,191 additional deaths and 10,319,961 more hospitalizations were averted in the U.S. between December 12, 2020, and December 30, 2021, thanks to the vaccination program, health care foundation The Commonwealth Fund said in a study.

The initiative also prevented an estimated 35,903,646 additional coronavirus infections.

The U.S. has reported a total of 73,423,879 COVID-19 cases and 877,815 virus-related deaths, according to the most recent data published by The New York Times.

Confirmed coronavirus-associated hospitalizations, meanwhile, reached 287,298 between 2020 and this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

The country's seven-day average for newly reported virus deaths reached 2,258 deaths a day Tuesday.

Had the vaccines not been available to the public, the estimated daily peak for deaths would have reached 21,000 – exceeding the record 4,000 deaths per day that was reached in January 2021, according to the study.

The "majority" of these averted deaths and hospitalizations would have occurred during late summer and early autumn last year as the "highly contagious" delta variant began to surge in southern states and spread to other parts of the U.S., according to The Commonwealth Fund.

"The nation has dodged a massive wave of COVID-19 deaths that would have started as the delta variant took hold in August 2021," the study’s authors said.

"Our results point to the tremendous power of vaccination to reduce disease and death from COVID-19. Sadly, they also highlight the ongoing tragic consequences of failing to vaccinate every eligible American," they added.

The Commonwealth Fund study, which relied on real-world observations on the impacts of COVID-19 as well as actual vaccination rates across the U.S., was unable to consider the possible impact vaccines may have had against the virus’ omicron variant.

Another study published in the Jama Network Open medical journal on Jan. 11 found that COVID-19 vaccines saved an estimated 240,797 American lives and prevented an estimated 1,133,617 hospitalizations between Dec. 12, 2020, and June 30, 2021.

Additionally, researchers said that the vaccines prevented around 14 million more coronavirus cases during the same time period.