COVID-19 Vaccines Lower Risk of Heart Attack and Cardiac Death

According to three different studies, COVID-19 vaccines were associated with a lower risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), in addition to other outcomes, particularly among older adults.

In the studies, researchers found that among over one million veterans who received the 2024-2025 COVID vaccine, vaccine effectiveness was 37.7 percent for preventing COVID-associated MACE, a composite endpoint of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, stroke and heart failure hospitalization, with a risk difference per 10,000 people of 2.04 versus those who didn’t receive a COVID vaccine.

Examining each endpoint, COVID vaccination was 57.9 percent effective at preventing COVID-associated cardiovascular death, with a risk difference of 1.0 per 10,000 people. Vaccination was 38.5 percent effective against COVID-associated myocardial infarction and 41.9 percent effective against COVID-associated hospitalization for heart failure .

In a subgroup analysis by age, vaccine effectiveness for COVID-associated MACE was statistically significant only in those older than 75 years, with a vaccine effectiveness of 50.7 percent. This group also had the largest absolute risk reduction (5.48 fewer events per 10,000 people).

In addition, secondary analyses showed that vaccination was also linked with lower risks for all-cause MACE, hospitalization or death.

According to the researchers, despite widespread immunity through COVID infection and vaccination, “our study findings show that vaccination continues to provide protection against associated cardiovascular outcomes. The magnitude of this vaccine effectiveness, however, is lower than estimates from the early phase of the vaccine rollout.”