COVID Vaccines Are Not Linked to Sudden Cardiac Death in Young Adults, CDC Study Finds

Vanessa Etienne
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A new study from the CDC states that there is no data to support an association between the COVID vaccines and sudden cardiac death among previously healthy young persons

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The COVID-19 vaccines are not linked to cardiac death or deadly heart problems in young adults, a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds.

The study, published April 11, analyzed nearly 1,300 death certificates of Oregon residents aged 16 to 30 who suffered sudden cardiac death between June 1, 2021 and December 31, 2022. Authors focused their research on those who received the COVID vaccine from Pfizer or Moderna and died within 100 days of receiving their shots. Only 40 deaths occurred in that window.

Of the 40, two of those deaths were attributed to “underlying illness” and the third had an “undetermined cause of death.” None of the death certificates attributed the deaths to the vaccine.

Additionally, the deaths of 30 Oregon residents in that age group and during that time frame were due to COVID-19. However, the majority of these residents were not vaccinated.

“The data do not support an association of COVID-19 vaccination with sudden cardiac death among previously healthy young persons,” the CDC said in the report.

Related: Mom, 40, Had a Widowmaker Heart Attack — This Unusual Symptom Led to Her Diagnosis

<p>Johan Ordonez/AFP/Getty</p>

Johan Ordonez/AFP/Getty

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Dr. Paul Cieslak, co-author of the CDC study, told NBC News that the analysis began following the alarming comments made about the COVID vaccine when Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest during a Monday Night Football game in January 2023. The athlete, 26, was resuscitated on the field and later recovered.

“When Damar Hamlin went down, immediately comments were getting made that it was possibly vaccine-related,” Cieslak, medical director of communicable diseases and immunizations at Oregon Health Authority’s public health division, told the outlet. “This is kind of what we were trying to address with this analysis.”

Dr. Ofer Levy, director of the Precision Vaccines Program at Boston Children’s Hospital, added that no vaccine has ever been conclusively linked to sudden cardiac death.

Although the COVID vaccine has been linked to a small risk of heart inflammation, called myocarditis, he explained that it is typically mild and most people fully recover in a few days.

“This adds to evidence that people don’t drop dead from getting their mRNA Covid vaccines,” Levy told the outlet.

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