It turns out that COVID-19 vaccines have increased the human lifespan by a total of 14.8 million years
During the COVID-19 pandemic, pharmaceutical companies and researchers worked quickly to develop COVID-19 vaccines and launched nationwide vaccination campaigns. A new paper published in the academic journal
Global Estimates of Lives and Life-Years Saved by COVID-19 Vaccination During 2020-2024 | Health Policy | JAMA Health Forum | JAMA Network
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama-health-forum/fullarticle/2836434
Global analysis finds 14.8 million life-years added by COVID-19 vaccinations
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-07-global-analysis-million-life-years.html
The government's response to COVID-19 vaccinations has been criticized, resulting in a proliferation of misinformation and fake news in addition to accurate information about the preventive effects and risks of vaccinations. Given that approximately 7 million people are said to have died as a direct result of COVID-19 by May 2023, estimating the human casualties prevented by vaccinations is important for public health education and the formulation of future public health plans.
A research team from Stanford University and other institutions conducted a study to quantify the number of lives saved and how much people's remaining life expectancy was extended between December 2020, when COVID-19 vaccinations began, and October 1, 2024.
The study focused on the world's population of approximately 8 billion people in 2021, and looked at population, predicted infection rates, infection mortality rates, and vaccine effectiveness for seven age groups: 0-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, and 70+. Using these data and adjustment factors for life expectancy and health status, the study estimated the number of deaths averted by the vaccine and the number of years of life gained.
The analysis found that COVID-19 vaccines have saved a total of 2,533,000 lives, which means one life saved for every 5,400 vaccinations. Globally, vaccination has also resulted in 14.8 million life-years gained, or one year of life added for every 900 vaccinations.
Approximately 82% of deaths averted by COVID-19 vaccination were observed in people who were vaccinated before their first COVID-19 infection, with 57% of those reported to have occurred during
Additionally, 89.6% of lives saved were people aged 60 or older, while only 0.01% were children and adolescents aged 0 to 19. A similar age gradient was observed in the increase in life years, with people aged 60 or older accounting for 76% of the life expectancy gained by COVID-19 vaccination, and the increase for people under 30 being less than 0.5%.
The researchers concluded that while their study used fairly conservative estimates, vaccination still provided significant benefits, with older people in particular benefiting from vaccination.
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