# Major Study of 28 Million People Finds No Increased Long-Term Death Risk From COVID-19 Vaccines
Nearly five years after COVID-19 vaccines first became available, researchers have released findings from one of the largest investigations into their long-term safety. The study examined health records from approximately 28.7 million adults, seeking answers to questions that have remained controversial since the pandemic began.
Millions of families still remember the uncertainty, overwhelmed hospitals, disrupted workplaces, and financial pressures that accompanied the global health emergency. While vaccines helped reduce severe illness, concerns about possible long-term effects continued circulating online.
Scientists wanted to understand whether people who received mRNA vaccines experienced different mortality outcomes years later compared with those who remained unvaccinated.
The research was conducted in France and published in December 2025 in JAMA Network Open. Researchers examined medical records for 28.6 million adults between the ages of 18 and 59.
Of those individuals, approximately 22.7 million had received at least one dose of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, while 5.9 million had not been vaccinated during the initial vaccination period.
The participants were followed for a median of approximately 45 months, allowing researchers to examine mortality patterns over nearly four years.
The findings attracted considerable attention.
During the follow-up period, 98,429 deaths occurred among vaccinated individuals, representing approximately 0.4% of that group. Among unvaccinated individuals, researchers recorded 32,662 deaths, representing approximately 0.6%.
After adjusting for differences between the groups, researchers found that vaccinated individuals had a 25% lower risk of death from all causes compared with unvaccinated individuals.
The difference was even more pronounced when researchers examined deaths associated with severe COVID-19. Vaccinated participants had a 74% lower risk of dying from severe COVID-19 requiring hospitalization.
Importantly, the researchers also examined mortality after excluding deaths associated with severe COVID-19. The overall findings remained similar, with no indication of increased long-term mortality among vaccinated participants.
The study included people who received Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines during the initial vaccination campaign.
Researchers also conducted additional analyses to determine whether the findings remained consistent across different age groups, medical histories, and other characteristics.
However, scientists emphasized that the results should be interpreted carefully.
This was an observational study, meaning researchers examined existing health records rather than randomly assigning people to receive vaccines or remain unvaccinated. Differences in healthcare access, personal health decisions, lifestyle, and other factors could influence the results.
The researchers acknowledged that some residual confounding could remain, even after extensive statistical adjustments.
Another limitation was that complete information about the specific causes of death was not available throughout the entire follow-up period.
Nevertheless, the findings provide important evidence about the long-term safety of widely used mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.
The research does not suggest that vaccines are completely free of side effects. Rare complications, including myocarditis and pericarditis, have been recognized and remain important considerations in vaccine safety monitoring.
Instead, the central finding is that researchers found no increased risk of overall mortality during the four-year follow-up among vaccinated adults.
For millions of people who received COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic, the results offer another important piece of scientific evidence in a debate that has continued for years.
The study also demonstrates why long-term monitoring matters. Medical decisions should be guided by carefully collected evidence, transparent research, and continuous evaluation rather than rumors or isolated stories circulating online.
Ultimately, the findings provide reassurance: in this large French population study, receiving an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine was not associated with an increased risk of dying over the following four years.
