Durch die COVID-19-Impfkampagne des US-Gesundheitsministeriums (HHS) wurden 732 Milliarden US-Dollar eingespart, indem Krankheiten und damit verbundene Kosten während der Delta- und Omicron-Variantenwellen abgewendet wurden, wobei für jeden ausgegebenen Dollar eine Rendite von fast 90 US-Dollar erzielt wurde
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/study-hhss-covid-vaccine-campaign-saved-732-billion-averted-infections-costs
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The US Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS’s) COVID-19 vaccination campaign saved $732 billion by averting illness and related costs during the Delta and Omicron variant waves, with a return of nearly $90 for every dollar spent, estimates a study by HHS and the research firm Fors Marsh.
The study was published yesterday in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
In April 2021, HHS launched its “We Can Do This” public education campaign to boost US COVID-19 vaccine uptake, especially among high-risk populations and those reluctant to receive the vaccine. The push, one of the largest of its kind in US history, aimed to reach 90% of adults at least once per quarter, with more than 7,000 television, digital, print, and radio ads in 14 languages.
The study authors used weekly media market data, information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and survey data on the drive’s effects on vaccination from launch up to March 2022.
Nearly 52,000 American lives saved
The researchers estimated that the campaign encouraged 22.3 million Americans to complete their primary COVID-19 vaccine series, preventing nearly 2.6 million infections, including nearly 244,000 hospitalizations.
Findings underscore the utility of public health education campaigns in promoting behavior change and in corresponding health and fiscal benefits.
“Preventing these outcomes resulted in societal benefits to the U.S. of $740.2 billion, accounting for such factors as medical expenses, wages, and other costs that people and institutions would have incurred in the absence of the Campaign,” the authors wrote. “In comparison, the Campaign cost $377 million, with an additional $7.9 billion spent to vaccinate 22.3 million people in that time period,” for an estimated return on investment of $89.54 on every dollar spent.
“Findings underscore the utility of public health education campaigns in promoting behavior change and in corresponding health and fiscal benefits,” the researchers wrote. “Furthermore, findings may guide the implementation of public health education campaigns to combat future public health crises.”
[https://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(24)00110-7/fulltext#%20](https://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(24)00110-7/fulltext#%20)
yeah, i’m sure that’s completely unbiased. don’t you think it’s kind of weird that they did this study themselves? and isn’t $732 billion just a rounding error for the federal government at this point? like, what does that even mean in terms of real-world impact? is that enough to pay off their massive debt or something?
i’m also skeptical about how accurate those numbers are. i bet there were plenty of other factors that led to a decrease in covid cases and deaths during those time periods, like natural herd immunity and people just getting tired of the lockdowns. it’s not like the vaccine was a magic bullet, you know?
plus, what about all the side effects and long-term consequences of the vaccine? we’re only now starting to see some of those come out in the open. maybe that $732 billion would have been better spent on things like improving public health infrastructure or researching more effective treatments for covid.
The experience gained in developing mRNA vaccines will pay serious dividends in the future, too.
I believe all of this. Thank you study. I am no longer sad about Covid times
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You can’t measure a counter-factual. How do you measure the cost of treating people who never got sick because they receive a vaccine? That isn’t to say that it had no benefit, I’m sure it’s large. But the problem is that quantifying the effects of preventing disease is necessarily an act of sheer conjecture.