With COVID Vaccines, 'No Increase in the Risk of Mortality'

French researchers say a massive real-world test of COVID shots turned up something vaccine skeptics won't like: People who skipped them died at a significantly higher rate, reports RFI. In a study of nearly 30 million adults ages 18 to 59, published in JAMA Network Open, the Epi-Phare group—which combines France's drug regulator and its national health insurance system—found no sign that mRNA vaccines raise the long-term risk of death, from any cause. About 23 million people in the study received at least one COVID shot, mostly Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna, from mid-2021 on; roughly 6 million stayed unvaccinated.

Over the next four years, 0.4% of vaccinated participants died, compared with 0.6% of those who never got a shot—meaning the vaxxed showed a mortality rate about half as high in the unvaccinated group. "We can say with a high degree of confidence that there is no increase in the risk of mortality after a COVID vaccine," says study co-author Mahmoud Zureik. Known serious side effects, such as rare heart inflammations like myocarditis and pericarditis, did show up but didn't change the overall safety picture for most, the authors said. France has already steered young adults away from the Moderna shot for that reason.

The study directly addresses online claims that mRNA vaccines triggered a hidden surge of deaths not captured in official COVID tallies. But while the vaccinated group fared better overall, the researchers are cautious about saying the shots themselves cut deaths by a specific amount. The lower mortality could reflect vaccine protection against COVID in the short or long term, they say, but it could also be influenced by such things as differences in age or socioeconomic status between people who chose vaccination and those who didn't.

Meanwhile, a new survey by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases notes that around 12% of those who refuse to get vaccinated say it's because they don't believe vaccines will keep them from getting sick, while 12% say their reluctance is because they think the vaccines themselves will make them ill, reports Medscape. Health experts say that reticence can lead to lost work (and wages), and higher costs overall in the long run.