COVID vaccines saved 20M lives in 1st year, scientists say Nearly 20 million lives were saved by COVID-19 vaccines during their first year, but even more deaths could have been prevented if international targets for the shots had been reached, researchers reported Thursday. AP NEWS

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The researchers used data from 185 countries to estimate that vaccines prevented 4.2 million COVID-19 deaths in India, 1.9 million in the United States, 1 million in Brazil, 631,000 in France and 507,000 in the United Kingdom.

COVID cases rise in Southeast Asia, Middle East and Europe LONDON (AP) — The number of new coronavirus cases rose in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Europe last week, while the number of deaths globally dropped by 16%, according to the World Health Organization's latest weekly pandemic report issued Wednesday. AP NEWS

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https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciac501/6611845

Hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19 during the Omicron wave benefited from a 4th vaccine shot--Israeli study

Waning vaccine-immunity and an increased incidence of COVID-19 during the Omicron outbreak led the Israeli Ministry of Health to recommend a fourth dose of BNT162b2 for high-risk individuals. This study assessed the effect of that dose for hospitalized patients with severe/critical, breakthrough COVID-19. ...

Among hospitalized patients with severe/critical breakthrough COVID-19, a recent fourth dose was associated with significant protection against mechanical ventilation or death, compared to three doses.