COVID-19 and Influenza Coadministered Vaccines May Loiwer Risk of MACE in Older Adults
- By BSTQ Staff
According to a recent study, coadministration of the COVID-19 vaccine with the annual influenza vaccine may reduce COVID-19-related major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) among older adults, especially those with comorbidities.
In the study, researchers conducted a target trial emulation using electronic health record data of more than one million veterans (mean age, 70 years; 92 percent men) who received same-day coadministration of COVID-19 and influenza vaccines and compared outcomes with individuals who received the influenza vaccine alone over a median follow-up of 8 months. The main outcome of interest was a composite endpoint of COVID-19-associated MACE, including COVID-19-associated cardiovascular (CV) death, myocardial infarction (MI), stroke or heart failure (HF) hospitalization.
The 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccines included those manufactured by Moderna, Novavax and Pfizer-BioNTech and the 2024-2025 seasonal influenza vaccines included those manufactured by AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi and Seqirus.
According to the researchers, COVID-19 vaccination was associated with lower risk for COVID-19-associated MACE vs. no COVID-19 vaccination (risk difference, two per 10,000 population), but was only statistically significant among people aged 75 years or older, a group that also experienced the largest absolute risk reduction (risk difference, 5.5 per 10,000 population).
Among the individual components of the main composite endpoint, COVID-19 vaccination was associated with lower risk for COVID-19-associated CV death (risk difference, one per 10,000 population, MI (risk difference, 0.8 per 10,000 population) and HF hospitalization (risk difference, 0.8 per 10,000 population) but not COVID-19-associated stroke (risk difference, 0.4 per 10,000 population).
The researchers reported COVID-19-associated MACE risk reductions were consistent across subgroups; however, people with comorbidities appeared to derive more benefit from COVID-19 vaccination.
References
Buzby, S. Coadministration of COVID-19, Influenza Vaccines May Lower MACE Risk in Older Adults. Healio, June 19, 2026. Accessed at www.healio.com/news/cardiology/20260619/coadministration-of-covid19-influenza-vaccines-may-lower-mace-risk-in-older-adults.