The Covid vaccine saved around 20 million lives in its first year, according to new estimates.
Experts estimate that more deaths have been averted in rich countries, with 12.2 million deaths saved in high and upper-middle income countries.
The Imperial College London study, published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal, suggests a total of 19.8 million deaths have been averted.
British grandmother Maggie Keenan was the first to receive the vaccine outside of a clinical trial on December 8, 2020, and it is estimated that at least 66% of the world’s population has received at least one vaccine.
More than 11 billion vaccines have been administered so far, while Johns Hopkins University in the United States puts the number of Covid-related deaths worldwide at 6.3 million.
Imperial research suggests that an additional 600,000 deaths could have been prevented if the World Health Organization (WHO) target of vaccinating 40% of the world’s population by the end of 2021 had been met.
Tell us your thoughts in the Facebook post and share this with your friends.