The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Thursday that there have been higher-than-expected instances of heart inflammation reported by people age 16 to 24 after receiving the second dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
Based on preliminary data from the CDC’s vaccine safety monitor system, there had been 275 cases of myocarditis or pericarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle or the lining, from people in that age group by the end of May. The agency revealed this during a presentation for a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel on Thursday, according to CNBC. Scientists had predicted that there would be anywhere from 10 to just over 100 cases of heart inflammation.
"We clearly have an imbalance there," Dr. Tom Shimabukuro, from the CDC’s Immunization Safety Office, told the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee on Thursday.
The CDC reported 475 cases in total of heart inflammation have been detected in people under the age of 30, with about four-in-five making a full recovery after being hospitalized, with the rest remaining in care.
"We still don’t know whether this is truly related to the vaccine," said Dr. Peter Marks, the director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, last month during a virtual event. He said that a "handful" of cases have reported heart inflammation, and those than have showed symptoms that were "very mild, lasting a day or two" typically after the second dose.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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