Written By: Longjam Dineshwori | Updated : May 25, 2021 11:32 AM IST
Myocarditis can eventually lead to heart attack.
India began its third phase of vaccination drive on May 1, allowing all citizens of 18 years of age and above to get vaccines to get COVID-19 vaccines. In the US, the FDA had, earlier this month, approved Pfizer and BioNTech's mRNA Covid-19 vaccine for children between 12 and 15 years of age on an emergency use basis. Another mRNA vaccine from Moderna is also approved for use in individuals 18 years of age and older. Earlier this month, Moderna announced that its COVID-19 vaccine is 96% effective for adolescents ages 12-17 years and has no serious safety concerns. In the meantime, a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory group has reported cases of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, in some teenagers and young adults who received COVID-19 mRNA vaccines.
In a statement dated May 17, the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices said that a few adolescents and young adults, predominantly male, developed myocarditis after getting the COVID-19 vaccination. The condition can be caused by a variety of viruses, and the cases typically occurred within four days after receiving the mRNA vaccines, the CDC group said.
However, the CDC advisory group did not mention how many people develop myocarditis or specify which vaccines cause the heart inflammation. They said that the condition often goes away without complications. Still, the members of the committee on vaccinations feel that healthcare providers should be made aware of this potential adverse event and recommended further study of the rare condition.
Speaking to Reuters, Dr Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, pointed that vaccines are known to cause myocarditis, but stressed the need to study if it is actually related to the vaccination as well as to look at the risk-benefit ratio. He, however, believes that the benefits would outweigh this very low, if conclusively established, risk.
Mention may be made that Israel's Health Ministry had in April also said it was looking into reports of heart inflammation cases in a few people who had received Pfizer's vaccine, mostly among people up to age 30. But it had not yet reached any conclusions.
At the time, Pfizer also said that it had not found more cases of the condition than would normally be expected in the general population. Also, a causal link to the vaccine had not been established, the company had stated. The CDC had also said it did not see a link between myocarditis and the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine.
Myocarditis or inflammation in the heart muscles can reduce the ability of the heart to optimally pump and perform its function, eventually leading to heart attack.
