HHS: COVID vaccine saved 39,000 Medicare beneficiaries' livesA US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) analysis of Medicare data and county vaccination rates indicates that COVID-19 vaccinations administered from January until May 2021 were estimated to reduce COVID-19 infections by 265,000 and deaths by 39,000 among Medicare beneficiaries.To conduct the study, HHS used Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) county-level COVID-19 vaccination rates for adults ages 18 to 64 and for those 65 years and older who were fully vaccinated to build a model that would determine how many cases, hospitalizations, and deaths were averted with full vaccination.The study found an 11% to 12% decrease in weekly COVID-19 hospitalizations