Medical decisions in the USA suggest that the statistical value of a “quality-adjusted life year” is ~$128,000 on average. Obviously the question of “life years” is critical in this context. Everyone would be in favor of sacrificing more to save healthy children than people who are 80+. (No one wants to see anyone die needlessly, but the children can live happy lives for another half-century.)

That's the value of an average life. Health economists at e.g. the NHS actually use https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality-adjusted_life_year, to account for the fact that e.g. an 80 year old has fewer years of life left than a 10 year old.