COVID-19 Vaccinated Individuals Had Lower Non-COVID-19 Death Rates

Individuals who received a COVID-19 vaccination had lower non-COVID-19 death rates than individuals who were unvaccinated, according to a Kaiser Permanente research study.

“Despite numerous studies showing the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, some people have remained hesitant to get vaccinated,” Stanley Xu, PhD, of the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Department of Research & Evaluation, said in a press release. “This study provides reassurance that the vaccines are very safe, and, in fact, people who received COVID-19 vaccines in the United States had a lower death rate than those who didn’t, even if you don’t count COVID deaths.”

Individuals who had the Pfizer vaccine had a morality rate of 4.2 deaths per 1000 vaccinated individuals per year after the first dose and 3.5 after the second dose, compared to 11.1 of unvaccinated individuals. Individuals who received the Moderna vaccine had a morality rate of 3.7 deaths per 1000 vaccinated individuals per year after the first dose and 3.4 after the second dose, compared to 11.1 of unvaccinated individuals.

Individuals who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine had 8.4 deaths per 1000 individuals per year compared to 14.7 of unvaccinated individuals. To determine morality risk, investigators evaluated the electronic health records of 6.4 million individuals who received a vaccine compared to 4.6 million unvaccinated individuals from December 14, 2020, to July 31, 2021.

The results of the study only calculated non-COVID-19 related deaths.

The study was published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Reference

Mortality study reinforces safety of COVID-19 vaccinations. EurekAlert. News release. October 22, 2021. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/932463