People vaccinated against COVID-19 less likely to die of other causes – study

People who received the COVID-19 vaccine are less likely to die of any cause than those who are not vaccinated, according to a report published Friday on the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website.

“A cohort study was conducted during December 2020–July 2021 among approximately 11 million persons enrolled in seven Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) sites,” the report said, referring to a joint project by the CDC and nine healthcare organizations that gather electronic data on vaccines for clinical studies. “After standardizing mortality rates by age and sex, this study found that COVID-19 vaccine recipients had lower non-COVID-19 mortality than did unvaccinated persons.”

The study, led by Stanley Xu from Kaiser Permanente Southern California, took into account people who received the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines, finding that those who received multiple doses of any vaccine had lower mortality rates than those who received only one dose.

Moreover, those who received mRNA vaccines such as the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna shots had lower mortality rates than people who were vaccinated with the Johnson & Johnson shot, a viral vector vaccine.

People who received two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were 34% as likely to die of any non-COVID-19 cause as those who were not vaccinated, while people who received two doses of the Moderna vaccine were 31% as likely to die as those who were unvaccinated. In comparison, people who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine were 54% as likely to die as unvaccinated people, CNN cited the study as saying.

In addition to the fact that people who are vaccinated against COVID-19 are less likely to die of non-COVID-related causes, the study confirmed that the vaccines are safe to administer and effective against the disease.

“COVID-19 vaccines authorized in the United States have [been] shown again and again to be safe,” Xu said, according to CNN. “This study also confirms their safety.”