Spectrum News 13, Orlando – As medical leaders nationwide push for Americans to roll up their sleeves and get their COVID-19 shots, there is a growing concern among some parents after a potential link between heart ailments in young people and the vaccine.
The CDC’s advisory committee on immunization practices will be meeting this week to talk about mRNA-based vaccines, which are the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, in teenagers and young adults.
The committee is also scheduled to look at reports that some young people reported inflammation of the heart days after getting their second shot.
Known as myocarditis and pericarditis — an inflammation of the heart muscle or outer lining of the heart — the CDC stated there have been reports of this but say they are rare. Most cases have been reported in young men 16 years old and older in the days after getting their second shot. The CDC reported most patients can quickly recover.
Both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Heart Association both still recommend getting vaccinated, saying even if there is a small risk of myocarditis after vaccination, it is heavily outweighed by the risks of getting COVID-19 … Click here to read more.
“We remain confident that the benefits of vaccination far exceed the very small, rare risks. The risks of vaccination are also far smaller than the risks of COVID-19 infection itself.” – American Heart Association, May 23, 2021
Myocarditis and COVID Vaccines: Where Do We Stand?
by Kristina Fiore, MedPage Today, June 10, 2021
Neither U.S. nor European health regulators have yet confirmed a causal link between COVID-19 mRNA vaccines and myocarditis, but they continue to investigate reports of a potential relationship.
In early June, the CDC issued a note to healthcare providers raising awareness of myocarditis and pericarditis after vaccination, particularly in younger males.
That guidance stated that, since April, there’s been an increase in reports of myocarditis and pericarditis after getting the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, but that there hasn’t been a similar reporting pattern following the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
The CDC’s “clinical considerations” update followed a May 24 report from Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)’s COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Technical (VaST) Work Group, which found “a higher number of observed than expected myocarditis/pericarditis cases in 16- to 24-year-olds” in Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) data within 30 days of dose 2, though it didn’t see the same pattern in data from Vaccine Safety Datalink.
Nonetheless, “analyses suggest that these data need to be carefully followed as more persons in younger age groups are vaccinated,” the work group wrote.
ACIP has scheduled a meeting for June 18 to present updated data on myocarditis and assess vaccine risks and benefits in adolescents and young adults.
That meeting was announced during a Thursday FDA hearing on pediatric COVID vaccines, during which Tom Shimabukuro, MD, MPH, of the CDC’s vaccine safety team, provided updated data on myocarditis and pericarditis.
In VAERS data, there were 475 reports of the condition in people age 30 and under, 226 of which have met the CDC’s working case definition. Preliminary data suggest that most patients (at least 81%) made a full recovery, Shimabukuro said.
Israeli health regulators said last week that the small number of myocarditis cases seen mainly among men ages 16 to 30 were likely linked to Pfizer’s vaccine … Click here to read more.
