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Study estimates COVID-19 vaccination saved more than 2.5 million lives worldwide, 2020-2024

A peer-reviewed study published in JAMA Health Forum on July 3, 2025 by researchers at Stanford University and Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Rome) estimated that COVID-19 vaccination averted more than 2.5 million deaths and saved roughly 14.8 million life-years globally between 2020 and 2024 - about one death averted per 5,400 doses.

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A peer-reviewed study published in JAMA Health Forum on July 3, 2025 by researchers at Stanford University and Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Rome) estimated that COVID-19 vaccination averted more than 2.5 million deaths and saved roughly 14.8 million life-years globally between 2020 and 2024 - about one death averted per 5,400 doses. Nearly 90% of the lives saved were among adults aged 60 and over, and most benefit accrued to people vaccinated before infection and during the Omicron wave. The authors described their figures as deliberately conservative, with sensitivity analyses ranging from 1.4 to 4.0 million lives saved.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Stanford University School of Medicine

    Organization

    Direct responsibility

    verified

    Recorded as a research-producing actor; the institution did not deliver vaccines but quantified their benefit, supporting evidence-based confidence in immunization. Direction set positive as the work documents vaccine benefit; magnitude small.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorStanford University School of Medicine
  2. contributed toFactStudy estimates COVID-19 vaccination saved more than 2.5 million lives worldwide, 2020-2024
  3. strengthensDriverPublic and donor investment in immunization systems
  4. strengthensIndicatorFirst-dose measles vaccination coverage (global, MCV1)

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). Study estimates COVID-19 vaccination saved more than 2.5 million lives worldwide, 2020-2024. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/ph-fact-covid-vaccines-lives-saved-study-2025

https://factrail.ai/facts/ph-fact-covid-vaccines-lives-saved-study-2025

Accessed 15 October 2026.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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