Updated COVID-19 vaccines are continuing to demonstrate significant protection against cardiovascular disease, especially for individuals over age 75 and those with underlying medical conditions, a new study has found. The research builds upon prior evidence indicating that COVID-19 vaccines can lower the risk of heart-related complications associated with the virus.<\/p>\n
The study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, analyzed electronic medical records from over 1 million patients within a US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health system. Researchers focused on the 2024\u20132025 COVID-19 vaccine, assessing its effectiveness in preventing major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). MACE is defined in the study as encompassing cardiovascular death, heart attack, stroke, and hospitalization due to heart failure.<\/p>\n
The data included 1,039,659 patients from the VA\u2019s St. Louis Health Care System who received a seasonal flu shot between September 3, 2024, and December 31, 2024. A portion of these patients, 349,085, also received an updated COVID-19 vaccine concurrently with their flu shot. The remaining 690,574 patients, who received only the flu shot, served as the control group.<\/p>\n
After an eight-month follow-up period, researchers compared the incidence of MACE events between the two groups, taking into account documented COVID-19 cases. The findings indicated that the COVID-19 shots demonstrated an overall vaccine effectiveness of 38 percent against MACE events. In absolute terms, the study estimated that the updated vaccines reduced the rate of COVID-19-associated MACE from approximately 5 events per 10,000 individuals to 3 events per 10,000.<\/p>\n
The study also highlighted that the protective benefits were most pronounced in specific subgroups. Older adults, aged 75 and above, and individuals with pre-existing health conditions experienced the strongest protection against these cardiovascular events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Updated COVID-19 vaccines continue to offer significant protection against cardiovascular events, particularly for older adults and individuals with pre-existing health conditions, according to a new study.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[1837,2037,2038,1729],"yoast_head":"\n