Enlarge image
Covid-19 vaccination in Markkleeberg in Saxony
Photo: Jens Schlueter / Getty Images
According to the Standing Vaccination Commission (Stiko), children from the age of twelve as well as adolescents and adults under 30 should only be vaccinated with the corona vaccine from Biontech / Pfizer and not with that from Moderna. In an updated vaccination recommendation published on Wednesday, Stiko justified this with new data on vaccinations. The commission writes: "Current reporting analyzes show that heart muscle and pericardial inflammation in boys and young men as well as in girls and young women under 30 years of age were observed more frequently after vaccination with Spikevax than after vaccination with Comirnaty." Spikevax is the vaccine from Moderna , Comirnaty is from Biontech / Pfizer.
"This recommendation applies to both basic immunization and possible booster vaccinations." Even if a different vaccine had previously been used, Biontech should be used for further vaccinations, it said. The panel of experts relied on safety data from the Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI), which is responsible for the approval and monitoring of vaccines, and international data. The Stiko also advises that pregnant women should also get Biontech regardless of age, even if there is no comparative safety data for the two vaccines for them. For those over 30 years of age, however, there is no increased risk of heart muscle and pericardial inflammation after vaccination with Spikevax.
In the PEI safety report, 136 reports of cardiac muscle and pericardial inflammation in people between the ages of 18 and 29 who have been vaccinated with Moderna are recorded.
Two reports concern 12 to 17 year olds.
For every 100,000 Moderna vaccinations, there is talk of a reporting rate of 11.41 and 11.71 for the two age groups.
Other countries reacted earlier
Other countries have already restricted vaccinations with Moderna because of the risk of myocarditis.
Sweden, for example, stopped vaccinations with Spikevax in October for everyone up to the age of 30, initially until December and is instead relying on Comirnaty.
France, too, only recommends Biontech's vaccine to anyone under the age of 30.
The Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS) health authority said on Tuesday that under 30-year-olds the risk of heart muscle inflammation seemed around five times lower with Comirnaty than with Spikevax.
The UK is going even further and is initially offering only one dose of Comirnaty to all adolescents aged twelve to 15, with a second dose not being offered to this age group until the spring, when more data are available.
The European Medicines Agency Ema had approved the use of the Biontech vaccine in over twelve-year-olds in May, and the Moderna vaccine was approved in July.
Both vaccines are based on the messenger RNA (mRNA) approach; they convey the information to human cells to fight the pathogens.
Ema had stated that there was a possible connection between very rare cases of myocardial inflammation and the two vaccines, but that the benefits of the vaccination outweigh the risks.
Covid-19 is a greater risk to the heart
In a large-scale study from Israel, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), it becomes clear that the risk of heart muscle inflammation is significantly higher with a disease with Covid-19 than after a vaccination against Corona. The researchers analyzed the data from a total of around 1.7 million people, half of whom were vaccinated and the other half unvaccinated. They found that an average of 2.7 out of 100,000 vaccinated people developed myocarditis in the first 42 days after vaccination. For those who contracted Covid-19, it was eleven out of 100,000 people.
"If someone shrinks from a corona vaccination because they are afraid of a very rare and usually not very threatening myocarditis, this study shows that the risk of myocarditis for unvaccinated people who become infected with the corona virus is much higher," said Ben Reis , Co-author of the study, told the New York Times.
In so-called myocarditis, the heart muscle becomes inflamed, usually as a result of a viral infection.
Those affected usually feel weak and tired.
Three out of four people also experience shortness of breath or chest pain.
In the updated recommendation, the Stiko writes: "According to the safety reports available to date, the acute course of vaccine-related cardiac muscle and pericardial inflammation is predominantly mild."
With material from Reuters
