Since their introduction in December 2020, COVID-19 vaccines have reduced deaths due to the pandemic by at least 57%, saving more than 1.4 million lives in the WHO European Region. Most of those saved were aged 60 or older, the group at highest risk of severe illness and death from the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The first vaccine booster alone saved 700 000 lives.
These are among the findings of a new WHO/Europe study revealing that today’s known COVID-19 death toll in the Region, currently at 2.5 million, might be as high as 4 million without the vaccines.