Mortality lower after 1st coronavirus vaccination than unvaccinated

Mortality among those who have been vaccinated is clearly lower in the three weeks following the vaccination than among those who have not been vaccinated, according to a follow-up study by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL).

THL monitors mortality among those who have been vaccinated as a continuing part of normal monitoring of the safety of the coronavirus vaccinations, said the THL in a press release on Thursday referring to the study.

THL studied mortality among the vaccinated three weeks after the first dose and compared it to mortality among the unvaccinated.

Mortality refers to the proportion of people who have died within a specified period of time in a monitored group.

In the follow-up, a total of 1676 deaths were recorded by 14 August, 2021 among 3.9 million vaccinated persons within three weeks of receiving the first vaccination.

There were clearly fewer deaths in all age groups among the vaccinated than among those who had not received a vaccine. The analysis considered the background factors of those who were studied: age, gender, number of visits to health care, possible institutional care, and the month in which the monitoring took place.

“When comparing groups of similar sizes with similar factors in their background, so that there would be an average 100 deaths in a certain period among the unvaccinated, an average 43 persons would die in a corresponding group of vaccinated people. So, if we consider the background factors, the risk of death of the vaccinated within three weeks of the vaccination was less than half of that of the unvaccinated in all age groups”, said THL Senior Researcher Petteri Hovi.

Many factors can explain the low mortality among the vaccinated immediately after the vaccinations.

“It is possible that healthy people who are in good condition are taking the vaccines more actively than others. Vaccinations are also generally not given to those who are in hospice care, living the last weeks or months of their lives”, Hovi said.