A new study added to the growing body of evidence that COVID-19 vaccines and boosters protect against severe illness and death. Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the peer-reviewed study followed more than 1.6 million American patients over 11 months and found that among those vaccinated and boosted, the death rate was only 8.9 per 10,000 people. According to the study, the death rate is approximately among high-risk patients such as the elderly, immunocompromised, and those suffering from conditions like diabetes and hypertension. Co-author Dawn Bravata, a research scientist at the Regenstrief Institute and the Roudebush Veterans 'Administration Medical Center in Indiana, said: "This is great news about the strength and effectiveness of vaccines and boosters. These results should encourage people to get vaccinated and boosted." The study also found that vaccinated elderly individuals with immune diseases were ten times more likely to experience severe outcomes such as hospitalization or death. However, the study did not examine unvaccinated patients. Furthermore, nearly 70 percent of study participants were aged 65 or older, while just over eight percent were female.