(CNN) Covid-19 vaccines saved hundreds of thousands of lives and prevented more than a million hospitalizations in the United States, according to new estimates from researchers at Yale University and the Commonwealth Fund. The researchers compared actual trends in Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths against a modeled trajectory of what those trends would have been if there had been no vaccinations. By the end of June, the researchers estimate that there would have been about 279,000 additional deaths due to Covid-19 -- about 46% more than there were -- and as many as 1.25 million additional hospitalizations if there were no vaccinations. At a briefing Thursday, White House Covid-19 response director Jeff Zients called this new research "a powerful reminder about what's at stake in our vaccination efforts." "This is further evidence that our whole-of-government strategy is working and has prevented significant further tragedy and disruption to Americans' lives and livlihoods," he said.

Source: CNN July 08, 2021 18:56 UTC