Spontaneous Reports of Adverse Reactions with Fatal Outcomes After COVID-19 Vaccination During the National Vaccination Campaign in Sweden.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Reports of suspected adverse drug reactions are of a great importance for the safety monitoring of new vaccines to identify potential safety risks promptly and to ensure necessary measures for risk mitigation. We reviewed the reports of fatal adverse drug reactions after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination with Comirnaty, Spikevax, and Vaxzevria during the national vaccination campaign in Sweden.

METHODS

Swedish reports of suspected adverse drug reactions with fatal outcomes after COVID-19 vaccines were retrieved from the EudraVigilance database. Vaccination data were obtained from the National vaccination register. Reporting rates were calculated by dividing the number of adverse drug reaction reports with fatal outcomes by the number of people exposed to at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccines or by the number of vaccine doses given. A causality assessment of adverse drug reaction reports was performed by clinically qualified reviewers.

RESULTS

More than 26 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines were administered and 456 reports of suspected adverse drug reactions with fatal outcomes were reported during 27 December, 2020-31 May, 2023. The reporting rate was 5.7 fatal outcomes per 100,000 persons vaccinated with at least one dose of any COVID-19 vaccine or 1.7 per 100,000 vaccine doses given. Most of the fatalities were related to patients' pre-existing conditions, predominantly among people aged 70 years or older. Only ten of the reported fatalities (0.1 per 100,000 persons vaccinated) were assessed as consistent with a causal association to COVID-19 vaccination.

CONCLUSIONS

Adverse drug reactions with fatal outcomes after COVID-19 vaccines in Sweden were very rare. No new safety concerns were observed in this study.