Prioritizing oldest for COVID-19 vaccines saves more lives, years of life

Challenging the idea that older people with shorter life expectancies should rank lower in coronavirus immunization efforts, new UC Berkeley research shows that giving vaccine priority to those most at risk of dying from COVID-19 will save the maximum number of lives, and their potential or future years of life. Since older age is accompanied by falling life expectancy, it is widely assumed that means we’re saving fewer years of life.

The findings, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Release date: 25 February 2021
Source: University of California – Berkeley