If all Missouri adults were vaccinated against COVID-19, more than a portion of the more than 14,000 deaths attributed to the virus since January 2021 would have been prevented, according to a new analysis. . .
This article is available in its entirety to subscribers.
If all Missouri adults were vaccinated against COVID-19, more than a portion of the more than 14,000 deaths attributed to the virus since January 2021 could have been prevented, according to a new analysis.
The analysis, conducted by researchers from the Brown School of Public Health, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and Microsoft AI for Health, aims to explore a choice if demand for the COVID-19 vaccine had continued at peak levels.
Using knowledge from the New York Times and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spanning January 2021 through April 2022, the researchers found that, if each state had vaccinated its entire adult population nationwide, about 318,981 deaths could have occurred. forewarned. .
In Missouri, approximately 8585 deaths could have been avoided if 100% of adults had been vaccinated, placing Missouri in seventh place when vaccine-preventable deaths are calculated consistent with 1 million. 85% were vaccinated.
“It’s not surprising, but it’s still unhappy to see those numbers,” said Lynelle Phillips, president of the Missouri Immunization Coalition and vice president of the Missouri Public Health Association.
There were 14,289 deaths from COVID-19 during the duration of the analysis. In total, amid the pandemic, there have been more than 20,600 COVID-19 deaths in Missouri according to state data. More than a million more people have died from the virus nationwide, though experts say thousands of COVID deaths across the country have gone unreported.
“The state and the country have the option to use a very effective tool that we were able to make available temporarily in this pandemic,” said Stefanie Friedhoff, a professor at Brown University’s School of Public Health and one of the analyses. authors”. If they choose not to, more people will die who don’t have to die. It’s very clear.
Friedhoff said the panel showing vaccine-preventable deaths will continue to be updated.
In Missouri, vaccination rates have remained largely stagnant since the beginning of the year. As of Wednesday, only about 66 percent of adults in Missouri were fully vaccinated, placing the state at the tenth-lowest vaccination rate in the country by this measure. , According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As COVID cases rise as more infectious variants of the coronavirus spread, state leaders have yet to make a new effort to vaccinate. In March, Gov. Mike Parson said COVID-19 would begin to be treated as endemic, like seasonal flu. With the change, reports on COVID statistics are less frequent, tactile tracking has decreased, and vaccination information is no longer on the state dashboard.
Paula Nickelson, director of the Missouri Department of Health, said at a news conference in March that the state expects to see increases in cases and hospitalizations in the future, but that the transition to an endemic phase will allow the state to need it.
“To be clear, when we say ‘accelerate,’ we will continue to advocate for mask or vaccine mandates,” Nickelson said at the time. “We will advocate for closures. “
Asked about the effects of the test, Lisa Cox, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Senior Services, said the state remains committed to making vaccines widely available and is making additional plans to send messages related to the benefits of keeping up. date of vaccination.
“This has been an ordinary effort to make as much progress as we have in Missouri with nine COVID-1 vaccines,” Cox said, noting that more than nine million doses have been administered in just over 18 months.
The vaccine launch in Missouri got off to a rocky start, with confusion and chaos marking the first few months of vaccine availability. Accusations circulated that rural spaces earned more than their fair share, as citizens of the state’s metropolitan spaces drove for hours in search of a vaccine. Meanwhile, disparities persisted, with the vaccine taking time to succeed in black citizens and the state lagging behind in terms of nursing home staff vaccinations.
The delta variant temporarily moved through southern Missouri during the summer, as some communities with low vaccination rates largely resisted the vaccine. About a dozen counties in rural areas of the state still have less than 40% of their adult population fully immunized.
In Missouri, efforts to provide monetary incentives to inspire vaccines have had limited success, and local incentives for gift cards inspired distrust among citizens in some rural areas who saw them as a form of government-sponsored corruption.
Friedhoff said states that were most successful in vaccinating more of their citizens and had fewer vaccine-preventable deaths were able to vaccinate their most vulnerable populations, such as the elderly, other immunocompromised people and communities of color. They also used mitigation measures more widely. “And overall, he implemented some kind of comprehensive toolbox,” Friedhoff said.
Missouri has never had a statewide mask mandate, and the attorney general has prosecuted cities, counties and school districts that have imposed restrictions.