neglected benefits
The researchers, led by Ziad Al-Ali, an epidemiologist at the St. Louis VA, also looked at MACE and deaths from undocumented COVID-19 cases. Here, the benefits of COVID-19 vaccines were stronger, suggesting that COVID-19 cases may have been missed or undetected. The shots appeared to cause the MACE rate to drop from 382 per 10,000 to 358, and the death rate to drop from 223 to 207.
“Extending these estimates to a population of 1 million people, vaccination could potentially be associated with preventing approximately 2,370 MACE events and 1,580 deaths over an 8-month period,” the researchers said, although they urge caution in interpreting the findings.
The study has limitations, including that most of the US veteran population is older, white, and male, making it likely that the findings cannot be generalized to the entire population. Still, the findings indicate that the vaccines continue to provide cardiovascular protection against COVID-19, which should factor into people’s decision on whether to get an annual COVID-19 booster. A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine on Monday found that the vaccines still directly protect against COVID-19, reducing the risk of hospitalization and severe disease by 35 percent and 41 percent, respectively.
In an accompanying editorial, Robert Califf, a cardiologist and former Food and Drug Administration commissioner, wrote that data from the two studies “provide strong evidence of a favorable balance of benefits and risks for an updated COVID-19 vaccine booster across the entire population.” But, he lamented that despite that strong evidence, national opinion is being influenced by “the general anti-vaccination statements of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,” which is run by anti-vaccination Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Only 17.5 percent of adults in the US and 22.6 percent of people over the age of 65 have received a COVID vaccine in 2025-2026, according to federal data.
“The politicization of COVID-19 vaccinations and messenger RNA vaccines in general has impacted the longevity and functional status of people in the United States,” Califf wrote. He called on researchers to collect more data on the benefits of the vaccine and to engage with the public about the findings to combat anti-vaccine rhetoric, particularly on social media.
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