A recent study conducted by Stanford University estimates that COVID-19 vaccinations have saved approximately 2.5 million lives globally from 2020 to 2024—about 17 million fewer than previous reports indicated, with the majority of lives saved being among older adults.
Published on Friday in JAMA Health Forum, the research revealed that one life was saved for every 5,400 vaccine doses administered during this timeframe. Official global estimates indicate around 7 million deaths related to COVID-19 over these four years, as reported by the Washington Times.
The study, carried out by three researchers from Stanford, discovered that 90% of the lives saved were among individuals aged 60 and above, with 82% of those lives preserved by vaccines administered prior to infection.
Lead author John P. A. Ioannidis, an epidemiologist at Stanford, pointed out that the new estimates are considerably lower than earlier assertions that vaccines had saved 20 million lives in their first year alone.
Simultaneously, he remarked that these findings counter the inflated claims made by vaccine skeptics who assert that the vaccines “killed many millions of people.”
“I hope that individuals who have taken or even published extreme views regarding COVID-19 vaccines, whether positive or negative, will be willing to reflect on our findings with a calm mindset,” Dr. Ioannidis stated in an email. “We are open to adjusting our estimates if more accurate data becomes available in the future.”
He stressed that the “significant uncertainty” surrounding official COVID-19 death tolls underscores the necessity for thorough, long-term randomized trials for future vaccines—something that was absent during the urgent vaccination efforts of the recent pandemic, as the Times report noted.
Ioannidis proposed that “mandates and punitive measures” aimed at younger demographics may have unintentionally dissuaded many older individuals with serious health issues from receiving vaccinations, ultimately reducing the effectiveness of the vaccines where they were most urgently required.
“The mandates and the forceful initiative to vaccinate the entire population likely did not contribute positively, and the coercive, nearly messianic communication adversely affected public health, resulting in increased vaccine hesitancy and a decline in trust towards medicine and medical science,” he remarked.
In summary, the research estimated that for every 900 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine administered, one year of human life was preserved—totaling approximately 14.8 million life-years saved. The majority of these benefits were observed among older adults residing outside of long-term care facilities.
Among the approximately 4 billion individuals under the age of 30—representing about half of the global population—the study estimated that the vaccines saved only around 2,000 lives.
For adults aged 30 to 59, who constitute just under 3 billion of the world’s 8 billion population, the vaccines were estimated to have preserved roughly 250,000 lives.
In a related commentary, epidemiologist Monica Gandhi endorsed the study’s finding that future vaccination campaigns during pandemics should focus on at-risk adults rather than attempting to achieve widespread vaccination across the entire population, as reported by the Times.
“The prolonged closure of schools in the U.S. was unnecessary for the protection of children and caused harm by leading to learning deficits, particularly among children from low-income backgrounds,” stated Dr. Gandhi, a medical professor at the University of California at San Francisco.
One of the primary advocates for school closures, as well as for masking and maintaining six feet of distance, was the nation’s then-leading immunologist, Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Consequently, Kentucky GOP Senator Rand Paul once again referred Fauci to the Justice Department following recent disclosures concerning former President Joe Biden’s extensive use of an autopen.
Paul made the referral – his second to the DOJ concerning Fauci – following reports suggesting that Biden might not have been personally aware of or directed a pardon he issued to the former long-serving director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
“In July 2023, I referred Dr. Anthony Fauci to the Department of Justice for perjury before Congress. His own emails directly contradicted his sworn testimony,” stated Paul, as per a press release from his office. “Fauci has been idolized by the radical Left, but that does not negate his dishonesty before Congress.”
