Reductions in deaths and hospitalizations associated with COVID-19 vaccinations among Medicare beneficiaries : full year 2021 estimates ASPE issue brief Samson, Lok Wong, author. Sayed, Bisma Ali, author. Orav, E. J. (Endel John), author. Sommers, Benjamin D. author. COVID-19 -- mortality COVID-19 Vaccines Hospitalization -- statistics & numerical data Medicare -- statistics & numerical data Vaccination -- statistics & numerical data State Government Previous ASPE research estimated that county-level primary COVID-19 vaccination rates through May 2021 were associated with reductions in mortality and hospitalizations among Medicare beneficiaries. This study updates those findings by extending the study period through the end of 2021, to include COVID-19 surges driven by the Delta variant in the summer and the Omicron variant in the winter. During 2021, we find the largest vaccine-related reductions in COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths occurred during the summer Delta surge. Our model results indicate that COVID-19 vaccinations were associated with an estimated 670,000-680,000 fewer hospitalizations and 330,000-370,000 fewer deaths among all Medicare beneficiaries through the end of 2021. This represents a 39-47 percent reduction in these outcomes. Reductions in COVID-19 hospitalizations were associated with an estimated savings of $16.3- 16.5 billion in direct hospitalization costs, a 6-fold increase in savings compared to our earlier study through May 2021. In the absence of any COVID-19 vaccinations in 2021, we estimate that there would have been more than 1.7 million COVID-19 hospitalizations and 700,000 deaths among the 64 million Medicare beneficiaries in 2021. Reductions in hospitalization and deaths linked to vaccination rates occurred in all racial and ethnic groups and in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, highlighting the importance of achieving high levels of primary vaccinations in the US population to reduce morbidity and mortality, especially among older adults. Washington, D.C. : Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Office of Health Policy, October 2022 United States. Department of Health and Human Services. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. Office of Health Policy, issuing body. Technical Report Text Illustrations 1 online resource (1 PDF file (16 pages)) nlm:nlmuid-9918590488806676-pdf 9918590488806676 http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918590488806676 English United States The National Library of Medicine believes this item to be in the public domain. https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0