Over 42 lakh deaths in India prevented by Covid vaccines in 2021: Lancet study

COVID-19 vaccines prevented over 42 lakh potential deaths in India in 2021, said a study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal, which based its findings on estimates of “excess” mortalities in the country during the pandemic.

Globally, the mathematical modelling study found that COVID-19 vaccines reduced the potential death toll during the pandemic by nearly 20 million (1 million = 10 lakhs) or more than half in the year following their implementation.

In the first year of the vaccination programme, 19.8 million out of a potential 31.4 million COVID-19 deaths were prevented worldwide, according to estimates based on excess deaths from 185 countries and territories, the researchers said.

The study estimates a further 5,99,300 lives could have been saved if the World Health Organisations target of vaccinating 40 per cent of the population in each country with two or more doses by the end of 2021 had been met.

The study estimated the number of deaths that were prevented between December 8, 2020 and December 8, 2021, which reflects the first year in which the vaccines were distributed.

“For India, we estimate that 42,10,000 deaths were prevented by vaccination in this period. This is our central estimate, with the uncertainty in this estimate ranging between 36,65,000-43,70,000,” lead author of the study, Oliver Watson from the Imperial College London, the UK, told

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)