The COVID-19 vaccine effort is protecting older people, growing evidence suggests

A growing number of signals show vaccinations are starting to reshape the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, as hospitalizations and deaths among older adults decline. Deaths tied to nursing homes have plummeted and 7-day averages for newly reported deaths recently fell below 1,000 for the first time in more than 4 months. “The people who die tend to be older,” said Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health. “And we’ve vaccinated a lot of people over 55 now.” CDC cites vaccinations among people aged 65 years and higher. This group has on average represented about 80% of every COVID-19 deaths in the United States since the pandemic began, death-certificate data show. By Friday, 71% of this age group had received at least one vaccine dose, compared with 27% of the general population, CDC data show. Nearly 46% of people aged 65 years and over are fully vaccinated. “We’re seeing less severe disease in the highest risk population, that’s probably in large part due to the vaccine,” said infectious-disease doctor James Lawler, co-director of the Global Center for Health Security at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.