UK’s vaccine rollout prevented 6,100 deaths in 12 weeks: Study

From early December until late February, thousands of deaths were avoided among the elderly as they were prioritised for jabs, says PHE.

The United Kingdom’s vaccine rollout prevented at least 6,100 deaths from early December to late February – a period in which the elderly were being prioritised for the jabs, according to a new study by Public Health England (PHE). PHE said on Friday it estimated that from December 8 – when the UK started mass inoculations with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine – until the end of February, about 5,900 deaths were prevented among people aged 80 and above, and 200 in those aged 70 to 79. “This new analysis calculates how many lives they have saved in the first few months of the vaccine programme, and with every additional day more lives have and will be saved,” said Dr Mary Ramsay, PHE head of immunisation.