New research by British scholars claims that COVID-19 vaccinations reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes, supposedly outweighing the risks of side effects. But let’s take a closer look at this study to see if it really holds up.
The researchers, from the universities of Cambridge, Bristol, and Edinburgh, analyzed millions of health records from adults in England, collected by the National Health Service (NHS) between December 2020 and January 2022. By then, over 90% of people over 12 in the UK had gotten at least one vaccine dose.
Dr. Samantha Ip of Cambridge, the lead author, said, “We studied COVID-19 vaccines and cardiovascular disease in 45.7 million adults in England and found a similar or lower incidence of common cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attacks and strokes, following each vaccination than before or without vaccination.”
The researchers used data from general practices, hospital admissions, and death records in a secure NHS environment. They compared the occurrence of heart attacks and strokes before vaccination and after.
Their findings, published in Nature Communications, claim that heart attacks and strokes dropped by almost 10% in the 13-24 weeks after the first vaccine dose. After the second dose, heart attack and stroke rates dropped by 27% for AstraZeneca and 20% for Pfizer.
William Whiteley, a professor at the University of Edinburgh, said the study “offers patients reassurance of the cardiovascular safety of first, second, and booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines.” He added that the benefits of the second and booster doses “outweigh the very rare cardiovascular complications.”
But let’s not forget the other side. Previous studies have shown an increase in myocarditis and pericarditis after mRNA-based shots (Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna) and blood clotting after adenovirus-based vaccines (AstraZeneca). This study confirmed these findings but didn’t find any new cardiovascular issues, insisting that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks.
Dr. Ip also highlighted that the vaccination program “has been shown to provide protection against severe COVID-19 and saved millions of lives worldwide.”
To arrive at these conclusions, the study used a statistical method called Cox regression, adjusting for factors like comorbidities, age, sex, and prior COVID-19 infections.
However, critics argue that the vaccines hadn’t been thoroughly tested for safety, didn’t stop virus transmission, and might pose greater risks to healthy individuals than Covid-19 itself. So, while the study presents a rosy picture, it’s crucial to consider these points and approach the findings with a healthy dose of skepticism.
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