I have written numerous articles about the safety of the COVID vax, but all of us who write about vaccines must continue to point out the studies that support its safety. Once again, we have another study that shows that the COVID vaccine is not linked to sudden deaths, especially from vaccine-related myocarditis.
We are going to critique this new study, as I usually do.
COVID vax and cardiac death study
In a paper published on 11 April 2024 in the CDC’s MMWR Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Juventila Liko, MD, and Paul Cieslak, MD, both of the Oregon Health Authority’s Public Health Division in Portland searched death certificates for Oregon residents 16-30 years old who died from cardiac or undetermined causes of death from June 2021 to December 2022 and tried to match these deaths with mandatory statewide records of mRNA COVID vaccination.
Here are some of the key results:
- Among the 24 males who had died and received an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, two died within 100 days of having received the vaccine. One had died of congestive heart failure caused by high blood pressure unrelated to the vaccine, and the other male had an undetermined cause of death.
- Among the 16 female decedents logged as having received at least one mRNA COVID-19 vaccine dose, just one died within 100 days of vaccination. The immediate cause was recorded as undetermined, although it was probably related to chronic respiratory failure with hypoxia attributed to mitral stenosis (one of the valves of the heart cannot open fully).
- On the other hand, out of the 1,292 identified deaths of young people in the state, COVID-19 was cited as the cause for 30.
The authors concluded that:
These data do not support an association between receipt of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine and sudden cardiac death among previously healthy young persons. COVID-19 vaccination is recommended for all persons aged ≥6 months to prevent COVID-19 and complications, including death.
Summary
Even though there may be a very low risk of myocarditis after the COVID vax, it does not lead to more severe complications, including death. This is more evidence that the COVID vaccines are safe, and they are not causing harm to anyone.
The study does have a couple of weaknesses. First, it is limited to 100 days after vaccination, and there could be vaccine-related deaths after that point, though it is very difficult to show causality between a vaccine and an adverse event with that much time. Second, the study only included Oregon residents, so there may be demographic factors that could bias the results.