A study of COVID-19 vaccine safety in older adults has been widely circulated and misrepresented by vaccine opponents. The study used FDA, Medicare, and Medicaid data for people ages 65 and up to flag early warning signals for increased risks of certain health conditions following COVID-19 vaccination. The study identified four signals that marginally increased following vaccination in this population. However, only one of the four conditions, pulmonary embolism, showed increased risk after accounting for the conditions’ baseline rates and additional factors that contribute to risks, such as age and nursing home residency. Multiple large English and Spanish accounts have falsely proclaimed that the study found that COVID-19 vaccines cause blood clots.
Emphasizing how the study is being misrepresented is recommended. The study found a modest increase in risk for pulmonary embolisms (blood clots in the lungs) in older adults following vaccination with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. No other health conditions showed a significant increase in risk, and no risks increased following Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccination. The study did not find that the Pfizer vaccine caused the increased risk. Instead, it concluded that further study is needed to determine if there is a potential link between the vaccine and pulmonary embolism. Messaging may explain that many large studies have found no link between mRNA vaccines and blood clots and that over 95 percent of Americans over the age of 65 have safely received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose.
