No link between Covid vaccines and sudden deaths, confirms ICMR-AIIMS Studies: Health Ministry

ICMR and AIIMS studies have confirmed that Covid-19 vaccines do not increase the risk of sudden cardiac deaths in young adults. The Health Ministry dismissed claims linking vaccination to such fatalities as misleading and harmful to public health.

New Delhi: Extensive studies undertaken by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) have conclusively established no link between Covid-19 vaccines and sudden deaths, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Wednesday.

Post the Covid pandemic several cases of heart attack-related death among people, especially the young were reported from across the country, and suggested a link with Covid vaccinations.

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The Ministry noted that sudden cardiac deaths can result from a wide range of factors, including genetics, lifestyle, pre-existing conditions, and post-Covid complications, but not from Covid vaccines that have been found safe.

“Studies by the ICMR and National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) affirm that Covid-19 vaccines in India are safe and effective, with extremely rare instances of serious side effects,” the Ministry said. “The matter of sudden unexplained deaths has been investigated through several agencies in the country”.

This includes the ICMR and NCDC, which investigated young adults between the ages of 18 and 45 years in two complementary studies — one based on past data and another involving real-time investigation.

The first study, conducted by ICMR’s National Institute of Epidemiology (NIE), explored unexplained sudden deaths among adults aged 18-45 years in India from May to August 2023 across 47 tertiary care hospitals in 19 states and Union Territories.

The study looked at individuals who appeared to be healthy but died suddenly between October 2021 and March 2023. “The findings have conclusively shown that Covid-19 vaccination does not increase the risk of unexplained sudden death in young adults,” the Ministry said.

The second study, currently being conducted by the AIIMS, New Delhi in collaboration with ICMR, aims to determine the common causes of sudden deaths in young adults.

“Early analysis of data from the study indicates that heart attacks, or myocardial infarction (MI), continue to be the leading cause of sudden death in this age group. Importantly, no major changes in the pattern of causes have been observed when compared with previous years,” the Ministry said.

The study identified “genetic mutations as a possible cause” in the majority of the unexplained death cases, it added. It has also been revealed that Covid vaccination does not appear to increase the risk, whereas the role of underlying health issues, genetic predisposition, and risky lifestyle choices do play a role in unexplained sudden deaths.

The Ministry also called out reports making statements linking Covid vaccination to sudden deaths calling them “false and misleading”. It stressed that such speculative claims without conclusive evidence risk undermining public confidence in vaccines and lead to vaccine hesitancy in the country, thereby adversely impacting public health.