A new study led by Stanford University estimates that COVID-19 vaccinations saved 2.5 million lives worldwide between 2020 and 2024—roughly 17 million fewer than earlier reports had suggested, with most of the lives saved among older adults.
Published Friday in JAMA Health Forum, the study found that one death was prevented for every 5,400 vaccine doses administered during that period. Official global estimates report around 7 million COVID-related deaths over those four years, the Washington Times reported.
The study, conducted by three Stanford researchers, found that 90% of the lives saved were among individuals aged 60 and older, and 82% of those lives were saved by vaccines given before infection.
Lead author John P. A. Ioannidis, a Stanford epidemiologist, noted that the new estimates are significantly lower than earlier claims that vaccines saved 20 million lives in their first year alone.
At the same time, he said they refute the exaggerated estimates of vaccine skeptics who claim the jabs “killed many millions of people.”
“I hope that people who have taken or even published extreme positions regarding COVID-19 vaccines, either favorable or unfavorable, will be willing to consider our findings with calm reflection,” Dr. Ioannidis said in an email. “We are open to revising our estimates if better data arise in the future.”
He emphasized that the “substantial uncertainty” surrounding official COVID-19 death counts highlights the need for rigorous, long-term randomized trials for future vaccines—something that was lacking amid the urgency to vaccinate during the recent pandemic, the Times report added.
Ioannidis suggested that “mandates and punitive measures” targeting younger populations may have inadvertently discouraged many older individuals with serious health conditions from getting vaccinated, ultimately limiting the impact of the shots where they were most critically needed.
“The mandates and the aggressive push to vaccinate everyone probably did not help, and the coercive, almost messianic messaging caused damage to public health with an increase in vaccine hesitancy and loss of trust in medicine and medical science,” he added.
Overall, the study estimated that for every 900 COVID-19 vaccine doses administered, one year of human life was saved—amounting to a total of 14.8 million life-years preserved. The majority of those gains were among older adults living outside long-term care facilities.
Among the roughly 4 billion people under age 30—about half of the global population—the study estimated vaccines saved only around 2,000 lives.
For adults aged 30 to 59, who make up just under 3 billion of the world’s 8 billion people, the vaccines were estimated to have saved approximately 250,000 lives.
In an accompanying commentary, epidemiologist Monica Gandhi supported the study’s conclusion that future pandemic vaccination efforts should prioritize at-risk adults rather than aim for widespread inoculation across the entire population, the Times added.
“Long-shuttered schools in the U.S. was not necessary to protect children and did harm them in terms of leading to learning loss, especially among children from high poverty backgrounds,” said Dr. Gandhi, a University of California at San Francisco medical professor.
One of the major proponents of school closures, as well as masking and six-feet-apart social distancing, was the country’s then-leading immunologist, Dr. Anthony Fauci.
To that end, Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul once again referred Fauci to the Justice Department following recent revelations regarding former President Joe Biden’s prolific use of an autopen.
Paul announced the referral – his second to the DOJ regarding Fauci – after reports claimed that Biden may not have personally known about or directed a pardon he granted to the former long-time head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
“In July 2023, I referred Dr. Anthony Fauci to the Department of Justice for lying under oath to Congress. His own emails directly contradicted his sworn testimony,” said Paul, according to a press release from his office. “Fauci has been sainted by the extremist Left, but it doesn’t erase his lying before Congress.”