A new study from the World Health Organization published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature reveals that COVID-19 caused an additional 15 million deaths in 2020 and 2021.
The excess deaths were higher in 2021 despite the advent of highly effective vaccines.
Researchers point out that since the beginning of the pandemic, scientists suspected that some COVID-related deaths were underreported.
Initially, there were no reliable testing systems, making it difficult to officially attribute deaths to COVID-19. Even when rich countries got reliable testing systems, poor countries continued to struggle.
The research team led by statistician William Msemburi chose another way to measure the true death rate from coronavirus worldwide - to estimate excess deaths in a country, e.g. the deaths above the expected baseline of mortality.
The projected baseline of deaths is measured by looking at average deaths over the past several years.
What's more puzzling, is that in 2020 there were 4.47 million excess deaths, while in 2021 there were 10.36 million excess deaths despite the advent of highly effective vaccines.
Researchers have clarified this puzzle, claiming that poor countries did not have immediate access to vaccination, and at the same time, new strains of COVID-19 emerged that were either more deadly (delta) or more virulent (omicron).
Scientists point out that vaccination saved many lives - in the United States alone, it is estimated that it prevented 3 million deaths. However, scientists believe proper vaccination is only part of the story.
This year, 2022 saw a serious drop in COVID-related deaths — about 1 million, but researchers are still working on numbers and want to avoid speculation.
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