Report: Vaccines have saved senior lives

Vaccinations against COVID-19 prevented the deaths of 1,800 Ohio seniors and stopped the disease from spreading to thousands more of the state’s elderly residents, a new federal study found.

From January through May of this year, the study found that vaccinations may have prevented 12,000 cases and 5,300 hospitalizations among Ohio seniors.

Ohio has suffered more than 1.4 million COVID-19 infections, 74,283 hospitalizations and 22,490 deaths since the pandemic began in March 2020. More than 6.3 million Ohioans, or 54% of the state’s population, have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Ohio Department of Health.

“This report further puts numbers to something I have long said – vaccines save lives,” Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff said in a prepared statement. “The remarkable

COVID-19 vaccines can help prevent severe illness and death from COVID-19, and will prevent dangerous variants from taking hold.”

Older people have long been thought to be more vulnerable to COVID-19 and data from the first 18 months of the pandemic shows that to be true.

So far, 91% of deaths have occurred in Ohioans age 60 or older, according to the state. A total of 10,871, or 48% of deaths, occurred in Ohioans age 80 and over.

Mortality data alone may have led more elderly Ohioans to get vaccinated against the virus. More than 80% of Ohioans age 65 and older have received at least a single dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the state.

To protect vulnerable seniors, the state largely closed long-term care facilities to outside visitors early on in the pandemic. When COVID-19 vaccines first became available in the U.S, residents and workers at long-term care facilities were some of the first approved

for the shots.

“Our vaccination goals have remained consistent: save lives and slow the spread by protecting Ohio’s most vulnerable individuals,” Ursel Mcelroy, director of the Ohio Department of Aging, said in a prepared statement.

Nationally, the federal study found vaccinations were linked to a reduction of approximately 265,000 COVID-19 infections, 107,000 hospitalizations, and 39,000 deaths among Medicare beneficiaries between January and May.

As of Wednesday, more than 215 million Americans, or 65% of the U.S. population, have received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“This report reaffirms what we hear routinely from states: COVID-19 vaccines save lives, prevent hospitalizations, and reduce infection,” Xavier Becerra, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said in a news release. “The Bidenharris Administration has prioritized getting vaccines quickly to pharmacies, nursing homes, doctors’ offices and even provided increased reimbursement rates for at-home COVID-19 vaccinations, so that seniors and others can easily get vaccinated.” mfilby@dispatch.com @Maxfilby