In a bulletin issued by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) on Friday, June 25, it has been reported that COVID-19 vaccines have heart inflammatory side effects. Primarily, jabs of Pfizer and Moderna have triggered myocarditis and pericarditis in rare cases. These are heart conditions that lead to chest pain and shortness of breath.
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Similar reports have been received post-vaccination with AstraZeneca as well. However, there isn’t sufficient evidence to recommend warnings. Whereas for Pfizer and Moderna, MHRA said:
These are typically mild cases and individuals tend to recover within a short time following standard treatment and rest
What are myocarditis and pericarditis?
Myocarditis is the inflammation of the heart muscle, and pericarditis is the inflammation of the outer lining of the heart. The body’s immune system causes inflammation in response to an infection or some other trigger in both these heart conditions. MHRA has been on a lookout for reported symptoms and said:
Healthcare professionals should be alert to the signs and symptoms of myocarditis and pericarditis. Vaccinated individuals should also seek immediate medical attention should they experience new chest pain, shortness of breath, palpitations or arrhythmias
According to the MHRA reports, this is an extremely rare side effect and only a small number of people would experience it after vaccination. It further added that myocarditis and pericarditis are more common in cases that have been infected with the COVID-19 virus.
The Stats
Statistically, not many cases have been reported for these symptoms. Although, doctors have reported 87 cases of the disease as a side-effect after Pfizer/BioNTech jabs and only 4 cases in recipients of the Moderna vaccine, as of June 16. The second dose of the Pfizer vaccine was linked with more cases than the second dose of Moderna.
The cases reported were out of a total of 16.8 million first doses and 10.9 million second doses of Pfizer/BioNTech. Whereas for Moderna the data was collected from 730,000 doses in total administered by the same date.
