by WorldTribune Staff, July 30, 2025 Real World News
The Covid injections saved 2.5 million lives between 2020 and 2024, according to a new Stanford University-led study.
That's about 17 million fewer than major media reports had suggested.
The reduction amounts to the equivalent of one death averted for every 5,400 vax doses administered worldwide during the period, according to the findings published Friday in JAMA Health Forum.
The study stated that 90% of the lives saved by the shots were among individuals age 60 or older, and 82% stemmed from shots administered before they tested positive for Covid.
Among the 4 billion people younger than 30 who represent half the global population, the study estimates that Covid shots saved only about 2,000 lives.
The study found Covid injections saved only a quarter of a million people aged 30 to 59, who account for slightly less than 3 billion out of 8 billion people on the planet.
Official estimates say 7 million people died from the virus worldwide between 2020 and 2024.
Stanford epidemiologist John P. A. Ioannidis, the study's lead author, said the “substantial uncertainty” of official Covid death data calls for rigorous long-term randomized trials of future vaccines, which did not occur in the rush to jab people during the Covid pandemic.
According to Dr. Ioannidis, “mandates and punitive measures” aimed at inoculating the young likely kept many older people with major health problems away from the shots, reducing their effectiveness where they were most needed.
“The mandates and the aggressive push to vaccinate everyone probably did not help, and the coercive, almost messianic messaging caused damage to public health with an increase in vaccine hesitancy and loss of trust in medicine and medical science,” he added.
In an invited commentary published alongside the study, epidemiologist Monica Gandhi endorsed its recommendation that future pandemic vaccines focus on reaching at-risk adults rather than the entire population.
“Long-shuttered schools in the U.S. was not necessary to protect children and did harm them in terms of leading to learning loss, especially among children from high poverty backgrounds,” said Dr. Gandhi, a University of California at San Francisco medical professor.
