US health agency says ‘likely association’ between heart inflammation and Covid vaccine
The US national health agency said there was a “likely association” between a rare inflammatory heart condition and the Covid vaccine in teenagers and young adults.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said there was “a “likely association of myocarditis with mRNA vaccination” in young people, mostly after they’ve received their second vaccine.
There have been more than 1,200 cases of a myocarditis or pericarditis mostly in people 30 and under following the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines, according to a series of slide presentations published on Wednesday for a CDC vaccine safety group meeting.
“Clinical presentation of myocarditis cases following vaccination has been distinct, occurring most often within one week after dose two, with chest pain as the most common presentation,” said Dr. Grace Lee, chairs of the vaccine safety group.
Health officials and scientists are monitoring cases of the rare side effect in order to full understand the potential risks, how to manage it, and whether it causes any long-term effects.
CDC officials said the heart symptoms were still “a rare event”. For both vaccines combined, there were 12.6 heart inflammation cases per million doses. The cases were more frequent among Moderna’s vaccine recipients at 19.8 cases per million versus eight cases per million for Pfizer’s.
The side effects have so far been reported far more in young men, among whom there were 32 cases per million vaccine doses.
Symptoms include chest pain, heart palpitations and shortness of breath, and usually manifest within a week of vaccination.