U.S. report says COVID vaccines led to over 300K fewer deaths among Medicare beneficiaries

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• More than 600K hospitalizations and over 300K deaths were prevented by COVID-19 vaccines among senior citizens and other members enrolled in Medicare, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published on Friday.
• HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said the data underscored the importance of seniors and others at high-risk of serious outcomes to get vaccinated during the fall and winter campaign.
• "Over 90 percent of Americans live within 5 miles of where they can access these vaccines for free. I urge everyone eligible to get an updated COVID vaccine to protect yourself ahead of the fall and winter," Becerra said in a statement.
• Coronavirus cases and deaths have been on a downward trend in the U.S., according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with around 43.7K new cases, ~300 deaths and 3.3K hospitalizations being reported on a daily average.
• The U.S government has rolled out updated COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer (NYSE:PFE)/BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) and Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) targeting the dominant Omicron BA.4/5 subvariants for the fall and winter vaccination campaign.
• "In addition to the reductions in severe COVID-19 health outcomes, reductions in COVID-19 hospitalizations were associated with savings of more than $16 billion in direct medical costs," the HHS said.
• COVID-19 vaccine makers: PFE, BNTX, MRNA, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX), AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN), Sinovac Biotech, Sinopharm Group (OTCPK:SHTDF) (OTCPK:SHTDY), CanSino Biologics (OTCPK:CASBF)