Poor health the main factor in deaths after second jab

BREAKTHROUGH infection deaths after a second vaccine are far more likely in people who are old or already ill, a study found.

Researchers at the universities of Oxford and Edinburgh analysed health data from 6.9 million vaccinated adults, of whom 5.2 million had a second dose.

There were 2,031 deaths between Dec 8 2020 and June 15 this year and the vast majority (96 per cent) were in people who had only had one dose – 1,950 compared with 81 who had been fully vaccinated.

But the team also found that people with certain conditions had a far greater chance of dying from Covid after a second jab. Down syndrome increased the risk nearly 13 fold, while a kidney transplant increased the chance of death eight times. Living in a care home or undergoing chemotherapy increased the risk fourfold, while having HIV or AIDS or liver cirrhosis raised the chance of death more than threefold.

Prof Aziz Sheikh, Professor of Primary Care Research & Development at University of Edinburgh, said: “The commonest denominator is age and then multimorbidity profiles, so if your organ system is compromised as a result of existing disease, you lay on more risk as that condition deteriorates.”

Julia Hippisley-cox, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and General Practice at the University of Oxford, added: “One of the large messages is once you are double-vaccinated then the risk of serious outcomes is very small. However, there are some factors associated with an increased risk.” The research was published in the BMJ.