Reductions in Deaths and Hospitalizations Associated with COVID-19 Vaccinations Among Medicare Beneficiaries: Full Year 2021 Estimates

Posted in COVID-19, Senior Living

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP
Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare

This (16-page) study updates ASPE’s previous analysis of the associations between COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths among Medicare beneficiaries and COVID-19 vaccination rates, with full year data through the end of 2021. The study uses a combination of person-level Medicare claims and county-level vaccination data to estimate reductions in COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths among Medicare beneficiaries associated with COVID-19 vaccinations in 2021. We find that vaccines were associated with 670,000-680,000 fewer hospitalizations and 330,000-370,000 fewer deaths among Medicare beneficiaries in 2021, with the largest reductions during the summer Delta surge. This represents a 39–47 percent reduction in these outcomes. Reductions in hospitalization and deaths linked to vaccination rates occurred in all racial and ethnic groups and in all 50 states.

This study demonstrates that high levels of community-wide primary COVID-19 vaccination rates in 2021 were associated with large reductions in COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths among Medicare beneficiaries, as well as significant savings from reduced hospitalizations costs.

This is an extremely interesting study/issue brief. I strongly encourage you to review it with your team and your colleagues. Take a look at Table 4 to see your state’s data. Look at the Discussions area as well. These are conservative numbers. We can learn from this. Vaccines do save lives.