![]() Life expectancy for American Indian and Alaska Native populations fell more than other ethnic groups at 65.2 years, the latest life expectancy estimates for these groups are similar to that of the US population in 1944.Yet life expectancy figures represent averages totaled from hundreds of thousands of people sorted into specific groups, and some groups fare much better than others: That's the largest decrease over a two-year span since the 1920s. But it fell to 77 in 2020 and dropped further, to just over 76, in 2021. ![]() With rare exceptions, life expectancy has been on the rise in the US: it was 47 years in 1900, 68 years in 1950, and by 2019 it had risen to nearly 79 years. Unfortunately, this new report shows a startling rise in death rates and decline in longevity. Our life expectancy varies depending on our current age, sex, race and ethnicity, and where in the US we live. For example, a baby born in the US in 2021 has an estimated life expectancy of about 76 years, according to the latest report from the National Center for Health Statistics. Perhaps the closest thing a healthy person has to gauge longevity is life expectancy. ![]() Which means we probably shouldn't be giving those two groups the same advice about masks or social distancing or boosters.My wife likes to say it'd be helpful if everyone knew their "expiration date" - as in the date you die. When talking about booster shots, "it simply doesn't make sense to talk about vaccinated 15-year-olds and 95-year-olds in the same breath and unvaccinated 15-year-olds and unvaccinated 95-year-olds in a different breath," Wallace-Wells argues.ĭoing so "distorts the picture of the pandemic as a whole" because "a vaccinated 95-year-old is still probably over a thousand times more at risk of death, all else being equal, than an unvaccinated 15-year-old. "That's because if vulnerability is hundreds of times higher in one group than another, the impact of that boost is going to be much, much larger too," Wallace-Wells writes. Because this population already faces disproportionate risks from Covid-19, boosters to restore their immunity could play a powerful role in reducing deaths, Wallace-Wells writes.Īccording to Wallace-Wells, "the social impact of elevating protection among the most vulnerable by even a few percentage points would be absolutely enormous," given the age skew of Covid-19 mortality risk. Research has found that immunity from the Covid-19 vaccines wanes over time, especially among the elderly. Could booster shots diminish the Covid-19 age skew? Webinar series: 'Stay Up to Date' on the latest with Covid-19Īs a result, an unvaccinated person over the age of 85 is more than 10,000 times more likely to die from Covid-19 than an unvaccinated child under the age of 10, Wallace-Wells writes. And in England, hospitalization rates among unvaccinated children were found to be lower than those for vaccinated people ages 18 to 29. On the other hand, young children-many of whom are not yet eligible for vaccination-experience relatively low mortality risk from Covid-19, Wallace-Wells writes.Īccording to recent data from the United Kingdom, an unvaccinated 10-year-old faces a lower risk of death from Covid-19 than a vaccinated 25-year-old. Even a vaccinated 45-year-old has a higher risk of death from Covid-19 than an unvaccinated 30-year-old. Just how high are breakthrough infection risks in older patients?Īccording to an analysis of data from England conducted by the Financial Times, an 80-year-old vaccinated against Covid-19 has roughly the same mortality risk as an unvaccinated 50-year-old, Wallace-Wells writes. This suggests that "in assessing an individual's risk of dying from Covid, age appears still as important-and maybe even more important-than vaccination status," Wallace-Wells writes. And in England, the median age of patients who died from a breakthrough infection was 84. According to CDC data, 70% of breakthrough cases resulting in hospitalization and 87% of those ending in death were among patients over the age of 65. ![]() A recent CDC study from Los Angeles, for instance, found that Covid-19 vaccines led to a 29-fold drop in hospitalization risk, and another CDC study suggested the vaccines led to an 11-fold drop in overall mortality risk.īut breakthrough cases do happen-and although most such cases are mild, their risks are far greater for elderly patients. The good news is that, across all age groups, vaccines greatly reduce the risk of severe Covid-19. How much worse will the 'delta surge' get? Watch these 7 factors.
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