This is partially an update to my previous post but this recent study was very timely and makes for a great update. It is amazing to see how beneficial the vaccine has been to the places where it can get rolled out effectively, even despite massive anti-vax sentiment. I will link below to a new article on the study but I encourage those interested to seek out the full study as well to understand the methodology that they used, I honestly believe they were conservative in their approach but either way to number is astounding.
To put in perspective the US has seen over 600,000 deaths so far from the virus, and it would be 50% worse without the vaccine, or in simple terms for every two people you know who have died, there would be one more dead! I am happy to still have those people around.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/08/health/covid-vaccinations-prevent-deaths-hospitalizations/index.html