High levels of immunity with COVID-19 vaccines have helped avoid excess mortality in Mass., study says – The Boston Globe

The COVID-19 vaccines have helped Massachusetts avoid excess mortality, or deaths exceeding the expected number at any given time of year, during two surges in the pandemic, according to a study published Monday by researchers at Brigham and Womens Hospital, and Harvard and Yale universities.

This is good news, and it suggests that, in our highly vaccinated state, we are benefitting from a high level of immunity, which likely helped to protect individuals at highest risk, Dr. Jeremy Faust, a Brigham and Womens emergency medicine physician and an author of the study, said in a statement.

The study appeared Monday in The Lancet Infectious Diseases medical journal.

But we need to remain vigilant, Faust said. As new variants emerge or immunity wanes, we may see a rise in excess mortality once more.

During the pandemic, Massachusetts has seen periods without excess mortality, corresponding to times of low prevalence of the virus, the study found. But there also were two periods when researchers observed no excess mortality despite substantial outbreaks of COVID-19. One such period came between late February 2021 and June 2021, while the second occurred between late February 2022 and June 2022.

The uncoupling of excess mortality and new COVID-19 cases, in the absence of decreases in the mean age of infected individuals ... suggests that in our highly vaccinated state, current levels of immunity are considerable, leaving many, if not most, individuals at high risk with substantial protection against the most severe outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 infection, the study said.

Seventy-seven percent of Massachusetts residents are considered fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a weekly state report updated Aug. 17.

More than 3.1 million first booster doses have been administered statewide, along with 684,168 second boosters.

There have been 20,025 confirmed deaths from COVID-19 in Massachusetts since the start of the pandemic, according to state data.

Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @TAGlobe.

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High levels of immunity with COVID-19 vaccines have helped avoid excess mortality in Mass., study says - The Boston Globe