Thursday, November 21, 2024
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COVID-19 vaccine: Should I worry about my child’s heart?

Now that the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is recommending COVID vaccination for children, it may soon be added to shots required for school attendance. And there will be lots of advertising. This figure is something you won’t see in the ads:

The FDA asked for prospective studies of myocarditis, with blood tests, ECG, and cardiac imaging before injections and at timepoints afterwards to detect the real rate of heart damage and to ascertain how much of the problem could be asymptomatic and potentially present a future risk of sudden death in an unsuspecting patient. Pfizer and Moderna were not forthcoming, writes the world’s most widely published cardiologist, Peter McCullough, M.D., M.P.H. Thus, he turned to a study done in Thailand. He writes: that if the Mansanguan study is confirmed, a million young Americans could have sustained heart damage from COVID-19 vaccination, and some of them will be at risk for cardiac arrest and future heart failure…. These data suggest we should not be surprised by rising rates of sudden death in young persons with sports and during daily life including sleep.”

Others downplay the risk. For example, Shin Jie Yong, who writes for medium.com, “aiming to improve scientific literacy in this age of information overload and mis/disinformation,” states that he was appalled when he read the analysis published by the Florida Department of Health and its advice to avoid the COVID mRNA vaccine in men aged 18–39. He critiques a number of studies, but not Mansanguan et al. He concludes that “thankfully, myocarditis is rare” and that “myocarditis from mRNA vaccines is also readily recoverable.” Young men might want to avoid the Moderna product, but he still thinks that it is “still likely to bring more benefits than harm.”

        This much is clear:

  • The risk of heart inflammation is acknowledged.
  • The degree of risk is not precisely known.
  • Each person must weigh the benefit of a lower risk of severe COVID, at least for a few months, vs. the chance of permanent heart damage or even sudden death.
  • Unlike with an illness following drinking water at Camp Lejeune or taking Zantac, there is virtually no likelihood of financial compensation for COVID vaccine adverse effects.

        If you opt to take the shot, you may want to have diagnostic tests “just in case,” because early treatment including exercise restriction could be lifesaving.

        Whether you take the shot or not, be aware of the desirability of early treatment for COVID.

        Further information:

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