Study: People vaccinated against COVID-19 have lower risk of death
People who received at least one dose of an mRNA vaccine against COVID-19 have a lower risk of death from all causes compared to unvaccinated individuals, a new French study has shown.
The findings show that, far from increasing long-term risks, these vaccines are associated with reduced mortality over a four-year period, starting from the peak of vaccination in 2021.
In the European Union, more than 976 million doses of the COVID-9 vaccine had been administered as of February 2023, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). and the programs have continued since then with tens of millions of additional booster doses each season.
The study, which looked at 28 million French adults aged 18 to 59, found that vaccinated individuals had a 74% lower risk of death from severe COVID-19 and a 25% lower risk of mortality from all causes.
Researchers said the lower risk of mortality was partly due to strong protection against serious disease, with vaccinated adults being much less likely to die from the infection.
They also suggested that fewer complications associated with prolonged COVID-19 could contribute to the overall reduction in deaths.
The research, conducted by Epi-Phare, a scientific interest group overseen by the French National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) and the French National Health Insurance Fund, concluded that a causal link between RNAi vaccination and excess long-term mortality now seems highly unlikely.
Using data from the French National Health Data System, the study included 22.7 million people vaccinated between May and October 2021, and 5.9 million unvaccinated individuals as of November 1, 2021, who were followed for an average of 45 months.
The study is the largest to date examining the long-term safety of RNAi vaccines against COVID-19 in the general adult population.
The participants were no older than 59 years old, meaning the findings do not directly apply to older age groups, which are more at risk from COVID-19.
During the four years of follow-up, 98,429 deaths from all causes, 0.4 percent, were recorded among vaccinated individuals, compared with 32,662, 0.6 percent, among the unvaccinated.
The authors reported no increase in deaths from cancer, cardiovascular disease, accidental injuries, or any other major cause; in each category, vaccinated people had mortality rates equal to or lower than those who remained unvaccinated.
