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Young mortality and registration delay
What has changed about deaths of young people in England & Wales in 2020 and 2021?
The Office for National Statistics published analysis on excess deaths in young people. Mortality risk rises as you age, so deaths in young people are exceptional events. Given when registrations increased, there was concern over the role of Covid-19 vaccinations.
Analysts assessed whether deaths following vaccination were higher than a baseline period. This self-controlled case series study looks at weeks one to six after vaccination. That risk period compares to seven to 12 weeks after the dose — the baseline period.
The analysis considers deaths in vaccinated young people aged 12 to 29, up to 16th February 2022. For all deaths, the risk ratio — dividing the risk in the main period by the risk in the baseline period — was 0.94 (0.79 to 1.10). Young people had a similar mortal risk in the six weeks after getting the vaccine. That risk is near to 7–12 weeks after, consistent with no difference.
Myocarditis — inflammation of the heart muscle — is a rare adverse event after vaccination. For cardiac-related deaths, the risk ratio was 0.99 (0.67 to 1.46). Again, that observed ratio is concordant with no real disparity in the risk of these deaths.
