Deaths related to COVID-19 are coming down in the United States and some health experts suggest that this decline in deaths could be tied to the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines.

The seven-day average of new COVID-19 deaths in the United States was 670 newly reported fatalities every day as of Thursday, as per data from Johns Hopkins University. An analysis of the data by CNN suggests that the US has reached the lowest seven-day average of new fatalities reported since July, 2020. This represents an 80% decline since January.

Dr. Robert Murphy, executive director of the Institute for Global Health and professor of infectious disease at Northwestern Universitys Feinberg School of Medicine, highlighted the findings of a new study from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which noted that the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines were 94% effective in the real world setting against COVID-19 hospitalizations among fully vaccinated adults 65 years and older. He called the study a “confirmatory report" on vaccine effectiveness… (CNN, April 30, 2021)