The rapid rollout of Covid-19 vaccines across the US is starting to work, according to a Financial Times analysis of official data that shows the number of deaths and hospital admissions is falling more quickly among older people than in the wider population. The US has overseen one of the fastest vaccination programs in the world, administering more doses than any other country and vaccinating a large proportion of its population.

Older people and those in nursing homes were first in line for vaccinations, resulting in a rapid decline in Covid-19 hospitalizations and deaths among these groups in the past few weeks. The declines in these groups have been faster than in the rest of the population, which has also seen a broad-based reduction since the winter peak.

The US vaccine effect: hospitalizations have fallen faster in older, more-vaccinated groups than in younger ones where fewer are vaccinated Hospitalisations as a percentage of the peak during each wave, by age group Tom Frieden, the former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said: “Vaccines are already saving thousands of lives in the United States. Rapid declines in the number and proportion of deaths among nursing home residents are the direct result of vaccines saving lives.”

The US has suffered more in terms of per 100 people. The first groups to be vaccinated have been healthcare workers and those working and living in nursing homes, which states started inoculating in December, as soon as the US drugs regulator authorized the first vaccine.

Posted in: USA