The COVID vaccine significantly reduces your chances of ending up in the hospital or dying from COVID-19, with protection against death reaching above 90% in some studies of older adults. It also lowers your risk of developing long COVID by roughly 27%. Beyond those headline numbers, the vaccine’s benefits vary depending on your age, immune status, and personal risk factors.
How Well the Vaccine Prevents Severe Illness
The most compelling reason to get vaccinated is the protection against the worst outcomes. A large Danish study covering October 2024 through January 2025 found that the updated vaccines reduced hospitalizations by 72% to 85% and deaths by 77% to 96% among adults over 65, depending on which vaccine and variant were involved. These are substantial reductions, particularly for a virus that still hospitalizes and kills tens of thousands of people each year.
U.S. data from the same time period showed somewhat lower but still meaningful protection: 45% to 46% effectiveness against hospitalization among immunocompetent adults over 65, and 40% among immunocompromised adults in the same age group. The difference between the Danish and U.S. numbers likely reflects differences in study design, population health, and timing relative to vaccination. Even at the lower end, cutting your hospitalization risk nearly in half is a significant benefit.
Protection against milder illness, like the kind that sends you to urgent care, is more modest at around 33%. The vaccine is better at preventing the severe end of the spectrum than it is at stopping every infection entirely.
Lower Risk of Long COVID
Long COVID, the constellation of fatigue, brain fog, shortness of breath, and other symptoms that can persist for months after infection, remains one of the more unpredictable consequences of getting sick. A literature review by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control found that full vaccination before infection reduced the risk of developing long COVID by approximately 27%.
That may not sound dramatic, but given that long COVID can disrupt work, exercise, and daily functioning for months or longer, a roughly one-in-four reduction in risk adds real value. The CDC specifically lists lowering your risk of long COVID as one of the reasons to stay up to date on vaccination.
The Vaccine Is Safer Than the Virus
One of the most common concerns about COVID vaccines is myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle. The risk is real but small, and the comparison with COVID-19 itself puts it in perspective. A major study of children and young people found that COVID infection caused about 2.24 extra cases of myocarditis or pericarditis per 100,000 people over six months. Vaccination caused 0.85 extra cases per 100,000, less than half the rate from infection. The elevated risk from vaccination was also limited to the first four weeks, with no increased risk observed after that window.
More broadly, research on the most widely used COVID vaccines in the U.S. shows they lower the risk of complications like blood clots and heart damage compared to what the virus itself can cause. COVID-19 infection carries risks of stroke, heart attack, kidney damage, and lung scarring that the vaccines do not. The math consistently favors vaccination.
Protection for Pregnant People and Newborns
If you’re pregnant, trying to become pregnant, or breastfeeding, vaccination offers a benefit that extends beyond your own protection. When you get vaccinated during pregnancy, your body produces antibodies that cross the placenta and reach your baby before birth. These antibodies are also present in breast milk. This means your newborn gets a degree of protection during the first months of life, a period when infants are too young to be vaccinated themselves and are especially vulnerable to respiratory infections.
CDC data suggests that vaccination later in pregnancy may transfer higher levels of protective antibodies to the infant, though vaccination at any point during pregnancy provides some benefit.
Who Benefits Most
The vaccine is recommended for everyone ages 6 months and older, but it matters most for certain groups. Adults 65 and older see the largest reductions in hospitalization and death. People with chronic conditions like diabetes, heart disease, lung disease, or weakened immune systems face higher baseline risk from COVID, so the absolute benefit of vaccination is greater. Residents of long-term care facilities, where outbreaks spread quickly and hit hard, are also a priority group.
If you’re younger and healthy, your personal risk of severe COVID is lower, but it isn’t zero. Vaccination still reduces your chances of a miserable week-long illness, lowers the odds of long COVID, and decreases the likelihood you’ll spread the virus to someone more vulnerable in your household or community.
Timing and How Often to Get Vaccinated
Vaccine protection fades over time, which is why updated formulations are released to match circulating variants. The current recommendation is a 2025-2026 COVID vaccine for everyone 6 months and older. If you recently had COVID, you can wait about three months after your symptoms started (or after a positive test if you had no symptoms) before getting vaccinated, since your natural immunity provides some short-term protection.
People over 65 or those with weakened immune systems may be eligible for additional doses. Your specific schedule depends on your age, health status, and vaccination history, but the core message is straightforward: protection wanes, and an updated dose restores it.