This blog is about vaccine - associated Myocarditis, and COVID related Myocarditis.
**This blog is NOT finished yet!!! I need to add more images! Thank you for your patience <3 Enjoy what I have so far!
First, let's define "Myocarditis" by breaking down parts of the word. We have that:
Myo = muscle. Card = heart. Itis = inflammation.
Thus, Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle.
Now that we know what Myocarditis is, we can ask the question.
Can COVID-19 mRNA vaccines cause Myocarditis?
The answer is: YES.
This is stated in the WARNING sections of the fact sheets for both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, which are both mRNA vaccines.
First, looking at the FACT SHEET for the MODERNA vaccine, we see that it is available for individuals 18 years of age and older.
This document was last updated on December 9th, 2021, and under the Warnings section, we see Myocarditis and Pericarditis listed as possible adverse reactions (or harmful side effects).
BTW Pericarditis is inflammation of the membrane surrounding the heart.
So both Myocarditis and Pericarditis involve inflammation of the heart.
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That said, here are 6 main points to take away from this warning:
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Main takeaways:
1) If you get heart inflammation from the Moderna vaccine, it’ll most likely happen within a week of the 2nd dose.
2) Males under the age of 40 are at a higher risk
3) Some cases required intensive care
4) Most individuals had resolution of symptoms
5) We do not yet know the potential long term outcomes of getting myo or peri from Moderna.
6) Those at the HIGHEST risk of Myo or Pericarditis from getting Moderna are Males between the ages of 18 and 24.
Remember, no one younger than 18 can get Moderna at this time, so the youngest males eligible for the Moderna vaccine are at the highest risk of heart inflammation from the vaccine.
Now let’s take a look at Pfizer’s fact sheet.
It says it’s available to ppl age 12 and older, but this has been modified recently, and now children as young as 5 years old can get the Pfizer vaccine.
Going to the warning label, we see that the document was revised December 16th, 2021.
Again, pretty recent.
Under the subsection “warnings” we see a warning for Myocarditis and Pericarditis here as well.
Matter of fact, the warning label here looks exactly the same as the warning label for Moderna!
The first 5 main points are literally the same.
The difference is in point #6.
Recall that for the Moderna vaccine, people at the HIGHEST risk of Myocarditis or Pericarditis are males age 18 – 24.
Here, we see that for Pfizer, those at the HIGHEST risk of heart inflammation are males 12 – 17 years old.
So again, we see that the youngest males eligible for the Pfizer vaccine are at the highest risk of heart inflammation from the vaccine.
Now you might be thinking, wait a minute, children as young as 5 can get the Pfizer vaccine, so how can I say that the youngest age group has the greatest risk when on the fact sheet is says 12 – 17?
Here's the deal.
There is no data on vaccine associated Myocarditis for children age 5 – 11 at this time, so Pfizer is assuming that the rates of myocarditis for 12 – 15 year olds is the same as it is for children 5 – 11 years old.
how do I know this?
It’s in Pfizer’s briefing document for the FDA meeting on October 26th to vote on authorizing the vaccine for children.
There’s a lot to unpack from this briefing document, and from that FDA meeting on October 26th in general!
If you’re interested in a summary of how that meeting went, watch my video “FDA meeting highlights”.
If you prefer to READ a summary of the meeting, check out my blog “FDA meeting highlights”.
Since Pfizer currently assumes the same Myocarditis risk for children 5 – 11 as children 12 – 15, it is implied, then, that the ones at HIGHEST risk of heart inflammation from the vaccine are MALES 5 – 17 years old.
This is subject to change as Pfizer gets more data on 5 – 11 year olds.
That said, we see a pattern arise from both Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.
It seems that the younger you are, higher your risk for heart inflammation from the vaccine, and this is especially true for males.
The CDC has issued some statements about Myocarditis and its symptoms as well, adding that you can also get Myocarditis from the COVD-19 disease itself!
It IS possible to get Myocarditis from COVID-19 as well.
From the ACIP meeting on June 23rd,
Myocarditis CAN occur after SARS-COV-2 infection.
SARS-COV-2 is the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
Data to estimate frequency after COVID-19 is limited.
Meaning, it’s hard to know how often people get Myocarditis from COVID.
If you want to see these slides, check out SOURCE 6.
I couldn’t find data on how often COVID related Myocarditis occurs, but I did find this statistic provided by the CDC, saying that hospital patients with COVID are about 16x more likely to get Myocarditis than hospital patients that didn’t have COVID.
For more information, check out SOURCE 7.
So it seems that being hospitalized with COVID significantly increases your chances of getting Myocarditis.
Which age groups are at the highest risk of COVID hospitalization?
According to the CDC, see SOURCE 8,
The older you are, the higher your risk of COVID hospitalization is.
The age group at the highest risk of severe COVID is people age 85 an older, and as indicated by the color scheme in this graphic, anyone over 50 is generally at higher risk.
The age group least likely to be hospitalized by COVID-19 are children age 5 – 17, with a hospitalization rate of .0001%, which is very small!
I’ll add that this graphic was made 2020. Has the statistics on hospitalizations changed since then?
Here’s a graph from the CDC’s surveillance system, COVID-NET, that shows all COVID hospitalizations, see SOURCE 9.
The red line in this graph represents the 65 and older age group, which we see has had the highest amount of hospitalizations throughout the pandemic.
Under the red line, in navy blue, is the 50 – 64 age range. Hospitalizations for this group is still relatively high compared to the other age groups.
On the bottom, there are 2 lines that seem to be flat, which are the yellow and grey lines. The yellow represents the 0 – 4 age range, and the grey represents the 5 – 17 age range.
As shown on this graph, COVID hospitalizations for people age 0 – 17 are statistically near zero and have been near zero throughout the pandemic.
This was last updated December 25th, 2021, or Christmas 2021, and the graph indicates that hospitalizations are on a decline for all age groups, and hospitalizations for children are still near zero, as it had been throughout the pandemic.
Thus, we have that anyone over 50 has a higher risk of COVID hospitalization, and therefore a higher risk of COVID related Myocarditis,
and we see that anyone under 17 has a very low risk of COVID hospitalization, and likely a low risk of COVID related Myocarditis.
In summary, current data suggests that older individuals are at a higher risk of COVID related Myocarditis if they get COVID, and younger individuals are at a higher risk of vaccine associated Myocarditis, particularly males.
That said, it helps to know the symptoms of Myocarditis so you can get the proper treatment you need in case you have it.
From the CDC’s website, see SOURCE 10:
symptoms of Myocarditis and Pericarditis are:
⦁ Chest Pain
⦁ Shortness of Breath
⦁ Feelings of having a fast-beating, fluttering, or pounding heart, kinda like feeling your heart is pounding out of its chest.
** Seek medical care if you or your child have symptoms of these conditions after COVID-19 vaccination.
I cannot stress enough the need to seek medical care if you are experiencing these symptoms.
In New Zealand, a 26 year old man died of Myocarditis from the Pfizer vaccine, see SOURCE 11.
New Zealand authorities on Monday said they had linked a 26-year-old man's death to Pfizer Inc's (PFE.N) COVID-19 vaccine after the person suffered myocarditis, after taking his first dose.
The death is New Zealand's second linked to a known but rare side effect from the vaccine
The man, who died within two weeks of his first dose, had not sought medical advice or treatment for his symptoms
Had he sought medical attention, he may still be alive today.
So please, if you’re experiencing any symptoms of Myocarditis, DO NOT hesitate to seek medical attention.
Please share this video, even if just to point out the symptoms of Myocarditis, so that people can get the help they need.
Lastly, the CDC asks you to please report any health problems after vaccination to VAERS.
Reporting harmful side effects to the vaccine helps the CDC, FDA, and science at large to understand the safety of the vaccine.
Science needs the data.
If you’d like to report to VAERS, SOURCE 12 is a link to the reporting system. Please share this link with anyone you know that has had an adverse reaction to the vaccine so they can report it.
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