Nearly two-thirds of the world’s population has had at least one COVID-19 vaccine, which has prevented nearly 20 million deaths, new research finds.
The study from Imperial College London was the first to quantify the impact of vaccines on a global scale. It was based on death records and estimates from 185 countries.
“Our findings offer the most complete assessment to date of the remarkable global impact that vaccination has had on the COVID-19 pandemic,” said lead author Dr. Oliver Watson, who noted that almost 7.5 million of the deaths prevented in the first year of vaccination were in countries covered by the COVID-19 Vaccine Access initiative (COVAX).
