Study claims that COVID-19 vaccines reduce life expectancy

Vaccine opponents are circulating a new Italian study that claims to have found a decrease in life expectancy following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination. The study assessed death from any cause in people who were unvaccinated and those who had received one or more vaccine doses, finding that a higher number of vaccine doses corresponded with a higher death risk. 

Recommendation: Claims that COVID-19 vaccines reduce life expectancy may discourage patients from staying up to date on COVID-19 vaccines, especially when the claims are coming from a study. Messaging may emphasize that COVID-19 vaccines have been rigorously tested, have been determined to be safe, and have saved millions of lives. Staying up to date on COVID-19 vaccines reduces the risk of severe illness, hospitalization, death, and long COVID. If responding directly to patient questions about the study, messaging may emphasize that both age and instances of pre-existing conditions were slightly higher in the vaccinated population than in the unvaccinated population, which may have increased the risk of death in the vaccinated group. The study also included only a limited number of risk factors in its analysis of death risk, which may skew the results. Similar claims about vaccination decreasing life expectancy were debunked in 2023. Importantly, large global studies find a link between COVID-19 vaccination and lower mortality.