CDC to hold ’emergency meeting’ over 226 cases of heart inflammation following COVID-19 vaccines

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has called an ’emergency meeting’ over 226 cases of heart inflammation in people who have had either the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. 

US health officials Thursday announced they are investigating what appear to be higher than expected reports of heart inflammation in male teens and young adults after getting their second doses.

A total of 226 cases have been reported that may meet the CDC’s ‘working case definition’ of myocarditis and pericarditis following the shots, the agency said. 

Among the 226, three are in intensive care, 15 are hospitalized, and 41 have ongoing symptoms. The rest have recovered. 

The cases seem to occur more often in men and in younger people. 

Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle, and pericarditis is inflammation of the outer lining of the heart. 

It is not clear if either condition is caused by the shots and the reports of cases are extremely rare. 

The CDC continues to urge everyone aged 12 and older to get vaccinated. 

These types of heart inflammation can be caused by a variety of infections, including a bout of COVID-19, as well as certain medications.

There have been rare reports following other types of vaccinations in the past. 

More than 130 million Americans have received both their first and second doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. 

This means just 0.000173846 percent of people who have been administered their second doses have reported such an effect. 

Cases are reported through the US Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).

The system accepts reports from everyone regardless of the plausibility of the vaccine causing the symptom.

In total, VAERS received 573 reports of myocarditis and pericarditis after the patient had received their second dose. 

A total of 372 reports were from people who had the Pfizer vaccine, while the remaining 201 had Moderna.

Another 216 cases of the heart inflammation were also reported after dose one of the vaccines. 

More than half of the cases reported after people had received their second dose were in people between the ages of 12 and 24, the CDC said.  

This group accounts for less than 9 percent of doses administered.  

Almost two-fifths of cases were in males. 

The overwhelming majority of the cases have occurred within a week of vaccination. 

The CDC’s vaccine advisory committee will meet on June 18 to further evaluate the possible risk.       

Dr. Tom Shimabukuro told a government vaccine meeting about the investigation Thursday.

‘It’s a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison because, again, these are preliminary reports,’ he said.

‘Not all these will turn out to be true myocarditis or pericarditis reports.’  

Shimabukuro said the CDC findings were mostly ‘consistent’ with the findings of Israel’s Health Ministry, which first reported a likely link to the Pfizer vaccine and the condition in young men.

Israel claimed in early June that its research showed Pfizer’s vaccine is the ‘probable’ cause of heart inflammation in a very small number of people who get the jab.

The Health Ministry had found 148 cases of myocarditis soon after the patient had been vaccinated. 

In total, 275 cases were spotted among the more than five million people given the Pfizer jab in Israel, which has had one of the world’s most successful jab rollouts. 

In the remaining 127 cases, it is unclear if they are linked to the vaccine.

This was equivalent to just 0.005 per cent of recipients, or one in 20,000 people. 

For the 148 cases ‘probably’ linked to the jab, the rate was 0.003 per cent – although half of them had other underlying health problems. 

Israel’s warning was one of the first health concerns linked to the Pfizer vaccine.

The AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines have both been investigated for possible – extremely rare – ties to blood clots.