We’ll say it again: COVID vaccines save seniors’ lives, and this study shows it | Editorial
Reminder to Floridians: COVID vaccines work.
In case we all needed to be told yet again, a report from the Department of Health and Human Services says COVID vaccines likely saved 2,400 seniors from death, many more — 6,700 — from hospitalization in Florida and about 17,000 from infection.
We should be dancing in the street at that wonderful news. Imagine if we could say that about cancer deaths or some other horrible illness. And Florida was among three states, along with California and Texas, that benefited the most from the vaccine shots.
The study, which used Medicare claims and county-level vaccination data from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to make the projections, also came up with another important point: Seniors benefited from an overall high vaccination rate throughout the population — not only within their age group.
That’s common sense, of course. We only have about 67% of of the state population vaccinated with at least one dose, and about 58% fully vaccinated. And the rate of vaccines being administered has once again slowed, now that the terrible summer surge is heading back down.
So let’s recap. The more people who get vaccinated, the better we protect everyone — and especially our elders.
Do we need to say it again? Apparently, that answer is Yes.
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This story was originally published October 6, 2021 at 10:00 AM.