Washington, D.C. — With the recent surge of new COVID-19 variants, the question of whether to receive a COVID-19 booster has become front of mind for many Americans. The development, manufacturing, and administration of COVID-19 vaccines to the great majority of the adult United States population has been an impressive scientific and policy achievement.
Today, the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) released a new report “Quantifying the Economic and Health Benefits from Rapid-Development COVID-19 Vaccines and Boosters” by Michael Mandel, Ph.D., Chief Economist at the Progressive Policy Institute, Robert Popovian, Pharm D., M.S. Senior Health Policy Fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute, and Wayne Winegarden, Ph.D., Director at the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation Pacific Research Institute.
Using conservative assumptions, the report finds that the COVID-19 vaccines saved 2.9 million lives, avoided 12.5 million hospitalizations, and saved $500 billion in hospitalization costs. This is in comparison to the counterfactual of no successful vaccine, relying instead on the development of natural immunity through infection.
Looking forward, the report uses the same framework to examine the decision to receive a new COVID-19 booster each year, which boosts protection against severe outcomes. The analysis assumes that existing protection against severe outcomes decays as new variants arise and that the benefits of the booster depend on the nature and speed of changes in the virus.
The report provides illustrative calculations of the benefits from annual COVID-19 boosters at different ages. One such illustrative calculation shows that the expected 5-year economic losses to an individual choosing not to receive boosters rises from $654 at age 30 to more than $65,000 at age 75.
“The data shows that COVID-19 vaccines have provided enormous health and economic benefits to the United States, saving millions of lives and hospitalizations, as well as $500 billion in hospital costs,” said Dr. Michael Mandel. “This comprehensive report also analyzes the individual consequences of deciding whether or not to receive a COVID-19 booster and finds that there is a great economic benefit to getting COVID boosters.”
“Immunization continues to be the most cost-effective and clinically safe way of gaining immunity against viral pathogens of COVID-19. While the data demonstrates that both prior infection and vaccination provide similar protection against future COVID-19 infections, there are typically more health and economic consequences from obtaining protection through prior infection compared to vaccination,” said Dr. Robert Popovian.
Read and download the full report here.
The Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) is a catalyst for policy innovation and political reform based in Washington, D.C. Its mission is to create radically pragmatic ideas for moving America beyond ideological and partisan deadlock. Learn more about PPI by visiting progressivepolicy.org. Find an expert at PPI and follow us on Twitter.
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Media Contact: Amelia Fox – afox@ppionline.org
