The global COVID-19 vaccine campaign saved 2.4 million lives between January and August 2021, but distributing vaccines more equitably could have saved another 670,000 lives, according to an from researchers at Brown鈥檚 School of Public Health and the University of Southern California.
The study, titled 鈥淭he Impact of the Global COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign on All-Cause Mortality,鈥� is the first, to the researchers鈥� knowledge, to examine the effect of the vaccine campaign on death in multiple countries, according to the working paper. In the United States, the vaccine campaign saved 429,486 lives, the researchers estimated.
According to study co-author Chris Whaley, associate professor and associate director of health services, policy and practice at the SPH, the paper finds 鈥渉uge benefits鈥� to the vaccine program, 鈥渂oth in terms of deaths averted and economic benefits.鈥�
鈥淲e know the global COVID-19 vaccination campaign is one of the (if not the) biggest public health initiatives that we can remember,鈥� Whaley wrote in an email to The Herald. 鈥淥ur paper is an initial attempt to evaluate this program.鈥�
Neeraj Sood, professor of public policy, director of the USC Schaeffer Center鈥檚 and co-author of the study, said the vaccines 鈥渨ere much more effective than non-pharmaceutical interventions such as lockdowns and mask mandates鈥� in an Oct. 30 University .
The study, which was limited to 141 countries with a total population of 5.25 billion, further considered an 鈥渆quitable鈥� scenario where vaccination 鈥渋n each country (was) proportional to its population.鈥� Under such conditions, the authors estimated that 670,000 additional lives would have been saved if the vaccine was distributed equitably.聽
In reality, the authors wrote, 鈥渧accine distribution was inequitable, with higher-income countries gaining access to vaccines much faster than lower-income countries.鈥�
Neil Mehta is the editor-in-chief and president of the Brown Daily Herald's 134th editorial board. They study public health and statistics at Brown. Outside the office, you can find Neil baking and playing Tetris.
