VACCINATIONS

Vaccines have proven to be spectacularly effective in preventing death from Covid-19, but throughout 2021 and 2022, the U.S. struggled to keep Americans up to date on vaccinations. Our Vaccine Preventable Deaths Dashboard shows that in that time when vaccines were widely available, every second Covid-19 death could have been prevented by vaccines.

DASHBOARD

Vaccine Preventable Deaths Analysis

Data from January 2021 – April 2022

#THEPATHTOZERO

The Cost of Undervaccination:

National and state-by-state data shows how many lives could have been saved by vaccines


This dashboard shows the number of vaccine preventable deaths per 1 million residents for each state as well as nationally. It is based on an analysis by our team at the Brown School of Public Health, in collaboration with Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Microsoft AI for Health showing that between January 2021 and April 2022, vaccines could have prevented at least 318,000 Covid-19 deaths. This means that at least every second person who died from Covid-19 since vaccines became available might have been saved by getting the shot.

The dashboard models vaccine-preventable deaths based on real-world data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the New York Times. Using observed weekly numbers of infections, deaths and vaccinations for each state, the dashboard displays an alternative scenario: What if the pace of vaccinations at the point of highest demand last spring for each state was sustained, until vaccination coverage reached 85, 90, or 100 percent of the adult population?

The dashboard served as a resource for states to build trust with their residents and close the gap in vaccinations. It showed not just where we were in the pandemic, but where we could’ve – and should’ve – been with a renewed focus on vaccinations.

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