Covid vax recipients may have lower non-Covid death rates

People vaccinated against Covid-19 may have a lower non-Covid-19 death rates than people who are not inoculated, according to a new research.

The study indicated that Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine recipients had a mortality rate of 4.2 deaths per 1,000 vaccinated people per year after the first dose and 3.5 deaths after the second dose.

Meanwhile, Moderna Covid-19 vaccine recipients had 3.7 deaths per 1,000 people per year after the first dose and 3.4 deaths after the second dose.

Both the unvaccinated comparison group had a mortality rate of 11.1 deaths per 1,000 people per year.

"Despite numerous studies showing the safety of Covid-19 vaccines, some people have remained hesitant to get vaccinated," said lead author Stanley Xu, PhD, of the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Department of Research and Evaluation.

For the study, the research team evaluated the electronic health records of 6.4 million Covid-19 vaccine recipients compared to 4.6 million unvaccinated people with similar demographics and geographic locations from December 14, 2020, through July 31, 2021.

The study, published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, looked at only non-Covid-19-related deaths to avoid masking any safety concerns regarding Covid-19 vaccine-related death with the protective effects of the Covid-19 vaccine.

The Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines require two doses for full vaccination, while the Johnson & Johnson adenoviral vector vaccine requires only one dose.

The one-dose and two-dose vaccines had different comparison groups due to differences in when the vaccines were available and potential differences in the demographics of people who chose the one or two-dose vaccines.

The research also showed that Johnson and Johnson Covid-19 vaccine recipients had 8.4 deaths per 1,000 people per year.

The unvaccinated comparison group had a mortality rate of 14.7 deaths per 1,000 people per year.