COVID vaccines safe for patients with cardiovascular disease

According to a large study published in Cardiovascular Research, COVID-19 vaccination is not associated with an increased risk of heart attack or stroke in patients with established cardiovascular disease.

This was the first study to examine the association between COVID-19 vaccines and the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in patients with cardiovascular disease.

The study included a total of over 2lac patients with cardiovascular disease, of which 1,764 were vaccinated and experienced MACE during the study period.

It was found that there was no evidence of an elevated risk of MACE after the first or second dose of vaccinations. Hence the authors concluded that pre-existing cardiovascular disease should not prevent people from getting vaccinated against COVID-19 and that vaccination is particularly important for this group since cardiovascular disease is associated with worse outcomes and a higher risk of death after COVID-19 infection.

Reference: Ye X, Ma T, Blais JE, et al. Association between BNT162b2 or CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccines and major adverse cardiovascular events among individuals with cardiovascular disease. Cardiovasc Res. 2022. doi:10.1093/cvr/cvac068.