06/04/2021 8:15
Clarín.com
World
Updated 06/04/2021 8:52 AM
Health authorities in the United States are trying to determine whether heart inflammation that can occur alongside many types of infections could also be a rare side effect
in teens and young adults
after the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
An article on seven US teens in various states, published in Pediatrics, is among the
most recent reports
of heart inflammation discovered after COVID-19 vaccination, although
a link to the vaccine has not been proven.
The children, ages 14 to 19, received injections from Pfizer in April or May and developed chest pain within days.
Imaging tests of the heart showed a type of inflammation of the heart muscle called
myocarditis.
A nurse prepares a dose of the Pfizer vaccine.
Photo: AP
No serious case
None were
seriously ill
.
They were all healthy enough to be sent home after two to six days in the hospital and they are doing quite well, ”said Dr. Preeti Jaggi, an infectious disease specialist at Emory University and a co-author of the report.
The cases echo
reports from Israel
in young men diagnosed after receiving injections from Pfizer.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention alerted doctors last month that they were monitoring a small number of reports of cardiac inflammation in adolescents and young adults after
mRNA
vaccines
,
of the kind developed by Pfizer and Moderna.
A person receives the Moderna vaccine in Canada.
Photo: Reuters
The CDC has not determined if there really is a link to vaccines and continues to urge that
all people over the age of 12
get vaccinated against COVID-19, which is much riskier than the vaccine.
The Pfizer vaccine is available for children under 12 years of age;
the Moderna vaccine remains licensed
for adult use only,
although in trials it has been shown to be effective in young people as well.
This type of heart inflammation can be caused
by a variety of infections
, including a COVID-19 attack, as well as certain medications, and there have been rare reports after other types of vaccines.
Authorities will have to find out whether post-vaccination COVID-19 cases occur more frequently than the expected "baseline rate."
After the second dose
For now, the CDC says that most of the patients
were men, they
reported symptoms after the second dose, and their symptoms improved rapidly.
"I think we're in the waiting period where we need to see if this is cause and effect or not," said John Grabenstein of the Immunization Action Coalition, former director of the Department of Defense immunization program.
Guys infected with covid
An editorial in Pediatrics noted that among American children under the age of 18, there have been more than
4 million cases of COVID-19
, more than 15,000 hospitalizations and at least 300 deaths.
CASES
0.000.00000.000
per million inhab.
Xxxxx
DEATHS
00,0000,000
per million inhab.
Source:
Johns Hopkins
Chart:
Flourish
|
Infographic:
Clarín
He said cases of heart inflammation require
further investigation,
but added that "the benefits of vaccination against this deadly and highly communicable disease clearly outweigh any potential risks."
Editorial co-author Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, chair of the infectious diseases committee at the American Academy of Pediatrics, is involved in studies of the Pfizer vaccine, including a study of the COVID-19 vaccine in children.
Associated Press
ap
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