Social media posts recirculate Ohio State University study to falsely claim that COVID-19 vaccines increase COVID-19-related death risk

Last week, several vaccine opponents with large social media platforms cited an Ohio State University study to falsely claim that COVID-19 vaccines increase the risk of death from COVID-19 infection. This study initially circulated on the social media accounts of vaccine opponents in March. The study, which was published in Frontiers in Immunology in February, followed 112 patients who were hospitalized with COVID-19 infections and concluded with caution that hospitalized patients who had been vaccinated against COVID-19 faced a higher mortality rate than hospitalized patients who had not been vaccinated. Recent posts citing this study claimed that mainstream media ignored its findings.

Recommendation: Cherry-picking data is a common tactic vaccine opponents use to discourage vaccination. In this case, vaccine opponents are ignoring the conclusion of this study, in which the researchers cautioned that, “Although our cohort size is small, our results suggest that vaccination status of hospital-admitted COVID-19 patients may not be instructive in determining mortality risk. This may reflect that within the general population, those individuals at highest risk for COVID-19 mortality/immune failure are likely to be vaccinated.” This negates social media users’ claims that COVID-19 vaccines increase the risk of death from COVID-19 infections. Health agencies, community-based organizations, and other partners may benefit from updated COVID-19 FAQs and one pagers with messaging debunking false claims that COVID-19 vaccination increases death risk. Talking points may emphasize that COVID-19 vaccines prevent death from COVID-19 infections. Staying up to date on COVID-19 vaccines also reduces the risk of severe illness, hospitalization, and long COVID.