Stroke, Myocardial Infarction, and Pulmonary Embolism after Bivalent Booster

This letter evaluates the comparative risks of four cardiovascular events ischemic stroke, hemorrhagic stroke, myocardial infarction, and pulmonary embolism, within 21 days after administration of Pfizer-BioNTech’s bivalent mRNA Covid-19 booster versus the original monovalent booster. Using French National Health Data linked to the vaccination database, the study matched recipients by vaccination date and applied propensity score-weighted Cox models. Among 470,962 individuals aged ≥50 years, no statistically significant increase in cardiovascular events was found in the bivalent group. The authors conclude that the bivalent booster does not elevate cardiovascular risk compared to the monovalent formulation.

This letter evaluates the comparative risks of four cardiovascular events ischemic stroke, hemorrhagic stroke, myocardial infarction, and pulmonary embolism, within 21 days after administration of Pfizer-BioNTech’s bivalent mRNA Covid-19 booster versus the original monovalent booster. Using French National Health Data linked to the vaccination database, the study matched recipients by vaccination date and applied propensity score-weighted Cox models. Among 470,962 individuals aged ≥50 years, no statistically significant increase in cardiovascular events was found in the bivalent group. The authors conclude that the bivalent booster does not elevate cardiovascular risk compared to the monovalent formulation.