KJZZ is a service of Rio Salado College,
and Maricopa Community Colleges

Copyright © 2025 KJZZ/Rio Salado College/MCCCD
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Study: Over 2 years, COVID-19 vaccines prevented 3 million U.S. deaths

This week marks two years since the U.S. began distributing and administering COVID vaccines.

A new study estimates how much worse the pandemic might have been without them.

Computer-modeling-based research by the Commonwealth Fund suggests that vaccines have reduced COVID's potential death toll by more than 3 million, reduced medical costs by $1 trillion and kept kids in school longer.

Without vaccines, the country would have seen 1.5 times more infections and 3.8 times more hospitalizations since December 2020, increasing the odds of long COVID and of reinfections, which have higher risk of death.

Even in evasive variants like omicron, vaccines blunted disease severity, lessening the burden on hospitals even as high rates of flu and RSV now strain the healthcare system.

Nicholas Gerbis was a senior field correspondent for KJZZ from 2016 to 2024.