Respiratory virus vaccination as public health strategy to protect against occurrence of acute stroke and myocardial infarction

While studies have clearly shown that vaccinations against respiratory viruses like COVID-19 and influenza prevent pneumonia and death, whether they also prevent heart attacks, strokes, or cardiovascular deaths is unknown. If routine vaccinations help prevent stroke and heart attack, then vaccination would be another approach to preventing these major killers in Canada. Although we have a number of other therapies that prevent these events (aspirin, lipid lowering drugs, blood pressure lowering drugs, etc.), their effectiveness depends on whether individuals take their medications every day or not. A key advantage of vaccinations is that they are given once per year (eg. influenza vaccine) or even once per lifetime (eg. pnemovax). A way in which vaccinations may prevent heart attacks and strokes is that influenza infection can be a trigger for heart attacks and stroke. Vaccination against influenza is known to reduce the occurrence of heart attack in the elderly and those with other concurrent illnesses. We propose to assess the indirect effects of vaccinations for influenza and other respiratory illnesses on the occurrence of acute stroke, acute heart attack and death (both cardiovascular and all-cause). We will assess each of these outcomes individually and together as a composite.