Estimated number of lives directly saved by COVID-19 vaccination programmes in the WHO European Region from December, 2020, to March, 2023: a retrospective surveillance study

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F75010330%3A_____%2F24%3A00014682" target="_blank" >RIV/75010330:_____/24:00014682 - isvavai.cz</a>

Alternative codes found

RIV/00216208:11120/24:43927434

Result on the web

<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2213260024001796?via%3Dihub" target="_blank" >https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2213260024001796?via%3Dihub</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(24)00179-6" target="_blank" >10.1016/S2213-2600(24)00179-6</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Estimated number of lives directly saved by COVID-19 vaccination programmes in the WHO European Region from December, 2020, to March, 2023: a retrospective surveillance study

Original language description

Background By March, 2023, 54 countries, areas, and territories (hereafter CAT) in the WHO European Region had reported more than 22 million COVID-19-related deaths to the WHO Regional Office for Europe. Here, we estimated how many lives were directly saved by vaccinating adults in the WHO European Region from December, 2020, to March, 2023. Methods In this retrospective surveillance study, we estimated the number of lives directly saved by age group, vaccine dose, and circulating variant-of-concern (VOC) period, regionally and nationally, using weekly data on COVID-19 mortality and infection, COVID-19 vaccination uptake, and SARS-CoV-2 virus characterisations by lineage downloaded from The European Surveillance System on June 11, 2023, as well as vaccine effectiveness data from the literature. We included data for six age groups (25-49 years, 50-59 years, >= 60 years, 60-69 years, 70-79 years, and >= 80 years). To be included in the analysis, CAT needed to have reported both COVID-19 vaccination and mortality data for at least one of the four older age groups. Only CAT that reported weekly data for both COVID-19 vaccination and mortality by age group for 90% of study weeks or more in the full study period were included. We calculated the percentage reduction in the number of expected and reported deaths. Findings Between December, 2020, and March, 2023, in 34 of 54 CAT included in the analysis, COVID-19 vaccines reduced deaths by 59% overall (CAT range 17-82%), representing approximately 16 million lives saved (range 15-17 million) in those aged 25 years or older: 96% of lives saved were aged 60 years or older and 52% were aged 80 years or older; first boosters saved 51% of lives, and 60% were saved during the Omicron period. Interpretation Over nearly 25 years, most lives saved by COVID-19 vaccination were in older adults by first booster dose and during the Omicron period, reinforcing the importance of up-to-date vaccination among the most at-risk individuals. Further modelling work should evaluate indirect effects of vaccination and public health and social measures.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

30304 - Public and environmental health

Project

—

Continuities

V - Vyzkumna aktivita podporovana z jinych verejnych zdroju

Publication year

2024

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Lancet Respiratory Medicine

ISSN

2213-2600

e-ISSN

—

Volume of the periodical

12

Issue of the periodical within the volume

9

Country of publishing house

GB - UNITED KINGDOM

Number of pages

14

Pages from-to

714-727

UT code for WoS article

001331277000001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85201885163