People aged 75 and above face no increased risk of stroke 14 days following either dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, according to a new study.
The nationwide study in France estimated the risk of acute haemorrhagic stroke and ischemic stroke, as well as myocardial infarction (heart attack) or pulmonary embolism.
To estimate the risk, the researchers looked at vaccinated and unvaccinated adults in the age group who had been admitted to hospital with the conditions between December 15, 2020 and April 30, 2021.
The authors found that 17,014 patients were admitted for an ischemic stroke, 54 per cent of whom had received at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine, and 4,804 for a haemorrhagic stroke, 42.7 per cent of whom had received at least one dose.
The relative incidence of ischemic stroke for a first dose was 0.90 (95% CI, 0.84 to 0.98) and for the second dose, 0.92 (95% CI, 0.84 to 1.02).
For haemorrhagic stroke for the first dose, 0.90 (95% CI, 0.78 to 1.04) and for the second dose, 0.97 (95% CI, 0.81 to 1.15)
The authors wrote: “In the 14 days following either dose, no significant increased risk was found for any outcome.
“No significant increase for any of the cardiovascular events was observed in the 2 subdivided exposure intervals (1-7 days and 8-14 days).”
A study published last month found that COVID-19 itself was associated with a greater risk of developing a rare stroke than a dose of the vaccine.
Patients having the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine had an increased risk of haemorrhagic stroke in the 28 days after their first jab at a rate of 60 extra cases per 10 million people vaccinated.
However, Covid infection carried a much greater risk of developing complications than either the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine or the Oxford AstraZeneca jab, which was linked to rare cases of Bell’s palsy and Guillain-Barre syndrome.
