Myocarditis from corona vaccination: And now boosters?
This is what Stiko and heart experts recommend
Created: 01/19/2022, 09:13 am
By: Maximilian Kettenbach
The booster vaccination serves to refresh the vaccination protection.
© Christian Ohde / Imago
Inflammation of the heart muscle after a corona vaccination is rare.
But there are.
What should those affected do in the omicron wave?
Boosters - or rather not?
Munich – Many millions of people in Germany are still unvaccinated.
Probably most because they want it that way, others can't because they suffer from diseases that make the prick with the anti-corona needle dangerous.
This also applies to those who are believed to have suffered inflammation of the heart muscle (myocarditis) or inflammation of the pericardium (pericarditis) as a result of the same corona vaccination.
Heart muscle inflammation from corona vaccination?
Paul Ehrlich Institute will publish data in 2021
In its safety report, the Paul Ehrlich Institute announced in autumn 2021: With more than 92 million vaccine doses of Comirnaty (Biontech) and Spikevax (Moderna) that were vaccinated in Germany by September 30, 2021, there were a total of 1,243 reports of suspected myocarditis/pericarditis been reported. However, and this is important, the inflammation of the heart could not be unequivocally attributed to the vaccination, but can also have other causes, such as a delayed infection, the use of certain medications such as antidepressants or autoimmune diseases.
Most cases are mild and not life-threatening.
However, many more severely affected people are now asking themselves the question in the omicron wave: boosters to ban the risk of the disease and simultaneous coronavirus infection or not to take the risk of the condition deteriorating again due to the third vaccination?
Knowing full well that the vaccination effect of the second injection wears off.
Or to put it another way: How is the risk of myocarditis to be assessed as a result of the booster vaccination if vaccination-related myocarditis had previously occurred?
Myocarditis from corona vaccination: And now boosters?
Stiko recommends that
The STIKO explains
Merkur.de:
“If myocarditis or pericarditis occurs after vaccination with an mRNA vaccine, the administration of further vaccine doses should generally be avoided.
Revaccination with an mRNA vaccine or another COVID-19 vaccine can be considered in individual cases if there is a high individual risk of a severe course of COVID-19 or a high individual risk of infection.
Boosters after myocarditis through corona vaccination?
That's what a heart expert says
Prof. Dr. medical Thomas Meinertz, cardiologist and pharmacologist in Hamburg, in a podcast for the German Heart Foundation. There is currently no reliable scientific data (yet) on when a booster vaccination should take place after myocarditis or pericarditis. "In any case, the condition of the heart should be reassessed beforehand by means of a clinical examination, ECG and echocardiography," says Meinertz and gets specific:
"If there are still left ventricular restrictions, I believe that the booster vaccination should be delayed until they have normalized.
However, if there are no symptoms, signs of inflammation, limitations in left ventricular function or other structural abnormalities that could be related to myocarditis/pericarditis, a booster vaccination with Biontech's mRNA vaccine is recommended.
He says explicitly: "Especially if there is already another heart disease that has been shown to increase the risk of a severe course of Covid."
Meinertz, who sits on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Heart Foundation, explains that one to five cases of myocarditis are assumed for every 100,000 vaccinations.
Pericarditis is even rarer.
Heart muscle inflammation from corona vaccination?
What else is known?
It affects more young men under the age of 30 than women (highest risk between 15 and 29 years).
For over 30-year-olds, the risk of contracting heart muscle or pericarditis from a corona vaccination is considered to be very low.
The risk is lower under the mRNA vaccine Biontech than under a vaccination with Moderna, which is why under 30-year-olds should only receive the Biontech active ingredient according to Stiko's recommendation.
Discomfort, symptoms of myocarditis, as a rule, appear within a few days after vaccination (usually the second).
After that, rest helps.
Drug treatment should be discussed with the respective doctor.
Heart muscle inflammation from corona vaccination?
Infection really increases the risk
For many who are undecided about vaccination, the Heart Foundation also makes a decisive statement: “A health risk from a Covid infection is – in every age group – estimated to be higher than the risk of myocarditis/pericarditis from vaccination with an mRNA vaccine.” A study from Israel shows According to an analysis of 1.7 million people: Of the people suffering from Covid-19, an average of eleven out of 100,000 people suffered from heart muscle inflammation. For those who were vaccinated, it was 2.7 out of 100,000 people. An Oxford study also confirmed the clear differences at the end of 2022.
Perhaps another vaccine will help in the future: Novavax will also be vaccinated in Germany from February.
"If someone does not tolerate the currently available vaccines, then the new protein vaccine is an option," said Thomas Mertens, chairman of the Standing Vaccination Committee (Stiko).
"But you should also keep in mind that we don't know as much about the new vaccine from Novavax, which also contains an immune booster, as we do about the vaccines that have been in widespread use for a long time."
If you want to be on the safe side, you should undergo a heart check before the booster vaccination.
