SHREVEPORT, La. -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is monitoring a link between mRNA COVID vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna) and a heart inflammation condition called myocarditis.
Dr. John Vanchiere, an infectious disease and pediatrics specialist and the lead investigator on the Pfizer vaccine study at LSU Health Shreveport, said evidence of myocarditis has been found in about one out of every 10,000 people who received an mRNA vaccine.
“People are bothered by the fact that there have been over 1,000 cases reported. But you have to remember that it still represents only one out of every 10,000 or so people who actually got the vaccine,” he explained.
Vanchiere said the risk for developing the heart inflammation from COVID-19 is 100 times greater than it is from getting the shot.
“We know that myocarditis and pericarditis from any cause is more common in teenagers, especially from other viruses. So that's a well known factor. And it's more common in males than females, for unknown reasons,” Vanchiere said. “But we also know that with COVID infection itself, about one out of 100, sometimes two out of 100, people actually develop evidence of inflammation of the heart, which is what myocarditis is. So it's much more common in the disease than it is in the vaccine by 100 times.”
The CDC says most patients who developed myocarditis and received medical care responded well to medicine and felt better quickly.
