Yes ! I Googled “do statistics show that the covid vaccine save lives?” and got quite a few hits – the first one quantifies the lives saved and even gives an economic value to it:
According to National Institutes of Health study mentioned in an October 2021 of Psychiatric Times:
“Covid-19 vaccines have so far reduced the number of fatalities that would have occurred due to the disease by about 140,000. The study researchers examined data from between December 21, 2020, and May 9, 2021, to assess the impact of state-level vaccination campaigns. The investigators compared the amount of time each state took to reach a series of milestones, beginning with 5 doses per 100 adults and escalating to 120 doses per 100 adults. They also calculated the number of vaccine doses per 100 adults at the end of each week.
The researchers found that COVID-19 vaccines prevented more than 139,000 deaths during the first 5 months they were available. Although 570,000 Americans died due to COVID-19 through the study period, the researchers’ model projected that there would have been 709,000 deaths without the vaccine.
“The researchers found that COVID-19 vaccines prevented more than 139,000 deaths during the first 5 months they were available.”
In addition, the investigators estimated that the economic value of saving these lives was between $625 billion and $1.4 trillion.
from: Psychiatric Times - how many lives have been saved by Covid-19 vaccinations
these links provide other aspects of the vaccines:
Myths and Facts about Covid-19 facts
USA Today article - American lives saved by Covid-19 vac
flawed paper on supposedly covid-19 vaccine deaths
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DVD bonus feature:
Another question I Googled was “did people question or doubt the smallpox vaccine like they do the covid-19 vaccine?” and found this stuff:
"History Does Repeat: Pandemic Vaccine Uproar Is Nothing New…
Oct. 14, 2021 -- Even as the fourth wave of COVID-19 cases trends downward, one aspect of the pandemic remains strong: differing opinions on the value of COVID-19 immunization and vaccine mandates across the U.S.
Strong feelings around vaccination are nothing new. Claims that link the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism and opposition to measles vaccination that triggered outbreaks in California are recent examples.
People who were against smallpox immunizations, for example, ran advertisements, wrote to newspapers, and formed anti-vaccine organizations, as seen in news clippings from the 1860s to the 1950s.
In other words, although the furor over vaccines feels like a modern experience, disagreements throughout history reveal many similarities.
"There are a lot of parallels -- many of the same exact arguments," says Anna Kirkland, PhD, director of the Institute for Research on Women and Gender at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
In this etching from 1808, vaccine pioneer Edward Jenner, at right in blue, tries to convince vaccination opponents to get the smallpox shot.
"Some of the differences now are the stark political alignments by party that we see under COVID, which were there in some ways before but became very prominently organized by party," she says. "Those are only differences of degree, though, because there has long been an anti-government backing of anti-vaccine sentiments."
For example, the Anti-Vaccination Society of America was founded in 1879. Its public campaign against mandatory smallpox vaccination used wording about personal freedoms that might sound familiar today: "Liberty cannot be given, it must be taken."
The society was part of a larger movement that also questioned the motives behind promotion of the smallpox vaccine.
"The anti-vaccination movement questioned the data released by health authorities, and accused politicians, doctors and pharmaceutical companies of conspiring to act on their economic interests rather than health considerations," notes MyHeritage, which maintains an archive of pro- and anti-vaccine news clippings.
"For this reason -- and because MyHeritage has access to billions of historical records, including newspaper clippings -- it was natural for us to check the newspaper archives, to try and make sense of today's significant vaccination debate," says Roi Mandel, lead researcher at MyHeritage.
Other historians point out that the anti-vaccination movement in the U.S. got its start in the 1850s with the announcement of smallpox vaccine mandates.
"Much of that movement was predicated on widespread concern about the safety of smallpox vaccine, as well as a belief that vaccination laws were 'a tyrannical violation of individual liberty,' wrote Joseph B. Domachowske and Manika Suryadevara, both MDs, in a 2013 report in Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics.
"Unfortunately, the anti-vaccination activism helped bring about a significant decline in immunization rates, resulting in the re-emergence of smallpox just a couple of decades later," they said.”
from: WEB MD vaccine opposition not new
and don't forget
CUNY EDU News - a tale of two pandemics
Forbes tales from the vaccine vault
T-Bone's disclaimer: I firmly believe Blockbuster's friendly reminder to be kind and rewind is still applicable in this age of digital media and streaming services.