There is more and more evidence – and it is beginning to be publicly known three years into the pandemic – about the risk of suffering myocarditis or pericarditis after the administration of the Covid vaccine. That is, inflammation of the heart muscle or the membrane that surrounds it. An adverse effect that appears after the second dose in young men is consistent with studies published to date in several countries. Even so, these investigations…
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There is more and more evidence – and it is beginning to be publicly known three years into the pandemic – about the risk of suffering myocarditis or pericarditis after the administration of the Covid vaccine. That is, inflammation of the heart muscle or the membrane that surrounds it. An adverse effect that appears after the second dose in young men is consistent with studies published to date in several countries. Even so, these investigations conclude that the possibility of suffering from this cardiovascular disease is greater after suffering from SARS-CoV-2.
“The risk of myocarditis was higher after the second dose of the Moderna vaccine and persisted after the booster. It manifested itself in men under 40 years of age after the injection from Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech or AstraZeneca,” concludes a study published in September 2022 in the journal Circulation, affiliated with the American Heart Association. This research was carried out in England between December 2020 and 2021 in people aged 13 years or older who had received at least the first dose and who were hospitalized or died for this reason. The document clarifies, however, that this risk “is small compared to having suffered Covid.”
In Spain, the Spanish Medicines Agency (Aemps) already included this incidence in its pharmacovigilance reports for June and July 2021 after the notification of cases in Israel and in European countries. In November of that year, there were 221 after the administration of 51 million doses. “It was not only with the Pfizer vaccine, but also with the Moderna vaccine. It occurred in men under 30 years of age, but not in the child population, and 14 days after receiving the second dose. It was a very rare adverse effect, and the evolution was good. This has not happened again with the 2022 souvenir test,” says Jaime Pérez Martín, president of the Spanish Vaccinology Association.
Heart inflammation appears more in men under 40 years of age after the second puncture
Heart inflammation, he explains, “seems to be related to the short administration time.” [21 días en España]. In Canada, whose period was four months, it did not occur or occurred with a lower frequency. Like a vaccine, what it produces is an immune system response, it is a process that can have an inflammatory component. “These are exceptional cases,” she insists, while pointing out that there is data indicating that Covid causes 10 times more myocarditis than immunization.
The president of the Spanish Society of Cardiology (SEC) until October, Julián Pérez-Villacastín, cites a study presented at the SEC 2023 congress, with the participation of 139 patients and 27 Spanish hospitals, which shows that a small group of people can develop inflammatory heart disease after administration, despite the good safety profile of the vaccines. “However, the majority had mild symptoms and although 8.6% of the admitted patients suffered at least one serious complication, none died; The evolution was favorable.” Héctor Bueno, from the cardiology service at Hospital 12 de Octubre, points out that all vaccines produce immune reactions and can have side effects. “The balance between benefits and complications remains in favor of vaccines,” he concludes.
Pfizer and Moderna have only referred to the information published on their website about adverse damages – the leaflet and technical sheet were recently updated – and to reports from the Aemps. Even the director of Moderna in Spain, Juan Carlos Gil, in an interview in May stated to this newspaper that the effects were “mild, minimal and bearable” and made no reference to said incidents.
Regarding long-term damage, cardiologist Manuel Anguita, from the SEC, explains that pericarditis is very common in healthy people, especially in young people, as it is caused by respiratory viruses. “In spring and autumn there are many cases. It causes severe chest pain, but does not cause any problems. The ailments related to the Covid vaccine are of this type and the risk of suffering a cardiovascular complication in the future is minimal,” he argues.
However, with myocarditis it is different. “The cardiac muscle is what makes the heart contract and if that fails, if the inflammation affects the entire thickness of the muscle, heart failure can occur. In most events, this left ventricular dysfunction normalizes over time, but in others it does not and can later cause serious damage such as arrhythmias and heart failure. But very few cases have been seen in relation to immunization against Covid.”
The Ministry of Health reports that, in December 2021, with the available evidence, the Committee for Risk Assessment in Pharmacovigilance of the European Medicines Agency concluded that both could appear with a very rare frequency. Fever, pain in the vaccination area, headache, muscle pain and dizziness are the most common disorders reported, according to the latest Aemps report from January. As of December 31, 2022, 111,293,866 vaccines have been administered in Spain. In total, 41,310,204 Spaniards have received at least one dose.
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2023-11-23 04:15:00
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