Vaccine News & Notes — May 2024

New studies continue to evaluate COVID-19 vaccine safety

COVID-19 continues to be studied by researchers around the globe. Two recent publications offer more information about COVID-19 vaccine safety:

1. The first study found that COVID-19 mRNA vaccine was not associated with sudden cardiac death among 16- to 30-year-olds. The researchers examined Oregon death certificate data from June 2021 to December 2022 to identify those in this age group with cardiac-associated or undetermined causes of death. They evaluated who in the group had documented receipt of a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine within three months of their death and found that none of the deaths were associated with vaccine receipt. While this study was limited in size, it provides evidence that can be added to what we already know about COVID-19 vaccine safety.
2. The second study found that receipt of COVID-19 mRNA vaccine during pregnancy was not associated with negative birth outcomes. In this study, researchers looked at the medical records of more than 55,000 people who delivered babies between June 2021 and January 2022 and compared those who did or did not receive a COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy to evaluate whether those who were vaccinated were at increased risk for preterm delivery, gestational diabetes or hypertension, or a pre-eclampsia-related syndrome. The research team also evaluated whether the babies were smaller than expected at birth. They found that receipt of COVID-19 mRNA vaccine during pregnancy did not increase the risk for any of these conditions.

Did you know? Pennsylvania has played a prominent role in the fight against infectious diseases

Check out our new short film, “Pennsylvania: At the forefront in the prevention of infectious diseases,” to see the major milestones and discoveries that happened in the Vaccine Education Center’s home state.

We were honored to be able to premiere this film at the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia’s premiere science museum and one of the country’s first, during the recent National Conference for Immunization Coalitions and Partnerships.