A new study published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Medical Economics showed that the COVID 19 vaccine Pfizer-BioNTech may have prevented 8.7 million symptomatic cases, 6,90, 000 hospitalizations and more than 1,10, 000 deaths in 2021.
The authors said that the vaccine saved more than $30 billion in healthcare costs and over $40 billion in lost productivity. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was the first COVID 19 vaccine to be available in the US, according to estimates from the US public health agency, the Centers for Disease Control administered to almost six out of 10 people who were fully vaccine-vaccinated in 2021.
The study has detailed the health and economic impact of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine during its first year of use in the US.
The authors of the study used real-world and trial data to estimate how many symptomatic COVID 19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths would have occurred if the vaccine hadn't been available, all of whom received funding from Pfizer, either as direct employees, consultants, or employees of firms paid by Pfizer.
They estimated how much these cases would have cost the healthcare system and the wider economy. The data fed into the model included information on the numbers vaccinated, the efficacy of the vaccine in different age groups, and the probability of being hospitalised for COVID - 19, developing symptoms, and being vaccinated.
The effects of long COVID 19 were also taken into account, as was the number of working days that were likely to have been lost due to short-term illness and the economic cost of premature deaths.
The vaccine has resulted in health benefits for millions of people, as well as an estimated $30.4 billion of savings in healthcare costs and $43.7 billion in productivity losses.
The analyses show that the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID 19 vaccine contributed to a significant public health impact in the US in 2021 and had a significant impact on the trajectory of the pandemic. In the US, it was estimated to prevent millions of COVID 19 symptomatic cases, thousands of hospitalisations and deaths, and generate billions of societal economic value in the next 2021, said Manuela Di Fusco, of Pfizer's Health economics and outcomes research team.
She said that the results highlight the opportunity to continue widespread vaccination uptake to prevent COVID 19 related diseases and generate societal benefits. The research team enlisted several limitations of the study. These include not factoring in the potential of the vaccine to reduce transmission, severity of cases, and the overall impact of long COVID - 19.
Results can't be generalized to other COVID 19 vaccine brands, indications, and populations that are not specifically analyzed. The researchers said that the model excluded the impact of the Omicron variant that emerged in the US at the end of the study period.