Real-time data shows vaccine efforts saved thousands of Hoosier lives

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Scientists in Indiana released a groundbreaking study looking at the impact of vaccination efforts as it relates to COVID-19 deaths.

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The study — which is the first of its kind — was conducted by researchers at IUPUI. Between January and May of this year, the team traced deaths and vaccination rates in all 50 states using real-time data. This is in contrast to what is currently being reported, which are deaths based on estimates.

“Earlier studies have been projections, which have used simulations from vaccine trials,” Dr. Sumedha Gupta, an associate professor at IUPUI who was one of the study’s authors, told News 8. “But because trials happen in a very controlled environment … In the real population, outcomes can deviate from controlled trials. And I think that’s really the contribution we are trying to make.”

Gupta says we are now getting actual numbers, not numbers based on data that was previously collected and then extrapolated. Findings show nearly 140,00 lives across the country were saved by getting vaccinated.

Gupta says that number is 2,867 in Indiana. Gupta and her team will continue to monitor the link between vaccinations and deaths averted. This work, she says, is essential since the delta variant has taken over.