People vaccinated against COVID-19 have lower risk of death – regardless of the cause, study

People who received at least one dose of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine had a lower risk of death from all causes compared with unvaccinated individuals, a new French study has shown.

The findings indicate that, far from increasing long-term risks, these vaccines are associated with reduced mortality over a four-year period –since the peak of vaccination in 2021.

In the European Union, more than 976 million COVID‑19 vaccine doses had been administered as of February 2023, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). and programmes 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 vaccinated individuals had a 74 per cent lower risk of death from severe COVID-19, and a 25 per cent lower risk of all-cause mortality.

Researchers said the lower mortality risk was due in part to strong protection against severe illness, with vaccinated adults far less likely to die from the infection.

They also suggested that fewer complications related to long COVID-19 may contribute to the overall reduction in deaths.

The research was carried out by Epi-Phare, a scientific interest group overseen by the French National Agency for Medicines and Health Products Safety (ANSM), and the French National Health Insurance Fund. The team concluded that a causal link between mRNA vaccination and excess long-term mortality now appears 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 1 November 2021, who were followed over a median of 45 months.

The study is the largest to date examining the long-term safety of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines in the general adult population.

Participants were no older than 59 years old, meaning the findings do not directly apply to older age groups, most at risk from COVID-19.

Over four years of follow‑up, 98,429 deaths from all causes (0.4 per cent) were recorded among vaccinated individuals, compared with 32,662 (0.6 per cent) among the unvaccinated.

The authors reported no increase in deaths from cancer, cardiovascular disease, accidental injury, or any other major cause; in every category, vaccinated people had equal or lower mortality rates than those who remained unvaccinated.