No link between COVID-19 vaccines and sudden deaths, Health Ministry clarifies
Studies by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) have established that there is no direct link between COVID-19 vaccination and the reports of sudden deaths in the country.
According to a press release by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the matter of sudden unexplained deaths has been investigated through several agencies in the country.
These studies have conclusively established that there is no direct link between COVID-19 vaccination and the reports of sudden deaths in the country.
Studies by the Indian Council of Medical Research (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.
Sudden cardiac deaths can result from a wide range of factors, including genetics, lifestyle, pre-existing conditions, and post-COVID complications.
As per the release, the ICMR and NCDC have been working together to understand the causes behind sudden unexplained deaths, especially in young adults between the ages of 18 and 45 years.
To explore this, two complementary studies were undertaken using different research approaches–one based on past data and another involving real-time investigation.
The first study, conducted by ICMR’s National Institute of Epidemiology (NIE), was titled “Factors associated with unexplained sudden deaths among adults aged 18-45 years in India – A multicentric matched case-control study.”
This study was carried out from May to August 2023 across 47 tertiary care hospitals in 19 states and Union Territories.
It 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.