U.S. vaccination program averted 1.1 million deaths. A recent analysis from the Commonwealth Fund calculated that the U.S. COVID-19 vaccination program averted over 1 million deaths through November 2021, most in the late summer and early fall when the Delta variant was surging. The report estimates that daily deaths could have reached 21,000, five times the record peak of 4,000 deaths per day in January 2021. The vaccination program also prevented over 10 million hospitalizations, a staggering number considering the overwhelming strain on hospital systems and the health care workforce with the 2.6 million COVID-related hospitalizations that did occur. Despite continuing resistance to vaccination by some and, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an overall vaccination rate of only 63.4% of the U.S. population (75.6% had at least one dose as of January), it's clear the vaccine program averted a massive wave of infections that would have overwhelmed the capacity of the health care system to respond.