Well, well, well, the CDC is set to have an emergency meeting about Covid-19 vaccines and heart inflammation. We have been told that this adverse reaction is super-rare, so why an emergency meeting? What makes this adverse effect, over other “rare” ones, so important? What’s up, doc?
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-19-vaccine-cdc-meeting-myocarditis-heart-inflammation/
“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday that it will convene an "emergency meeting" of its advisers on June 18th to discuss rare but higher-than-expected reports of heart inflammation following doses of the mRNA-based Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.
So far, the CDC has identified 226 reports that might meet the agency's "working case definition" of myocarditis and pericarditis following the shots, the agency disclosed Thursday. The vast majority have recovered, but 41 had ongoing symptoms, 15 are still hospitalized, and 3 are in the intensive care unit.
The reports represent just a tiny fraction of the nearly 130 million Americans who have been fully vaccinated with either Pfizer or Moderna's doses.”
“Israeli health officials found a probable link between the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID vaccine — which the country has relied on almost exclusively in its vaccination drive — and dozens of cases of heart inflammation in young men following the second dose, the Health Ministry said Tuesday.
After the ministry received reports of heart inflammation, including myocarditis, following recent COVID vaccination, a panel of experts was appointed to investigate the issue. The panel included public health experts specializing in epidemiology, members of the National Center for Disease Control and academics from the Tel Aviv University, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and Haifa University.
Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle that can lead to cardiac arrhythmia and death. According to researchers at the National Organization for Rare Disorders, myocarditis can result from infections, but “more commonly the myocarditis is a result of the body’s immune reaction to the initial heart damage.”
According to a study by Israeli health officials, there were 275 cases of myocarditis identified between December 2020 and May 2021, including 148 cases that occurred within a month after vaccination. Of those 148 cases, 27 occurred after the first dose and 121 after the second dose. About half of the cases involved people with previous medical conditions, Bloomberg reported.
Many of the cases were reported among men 16 to 30, and most often in 16- to 19-year-olds. Most of the patients were discharged from the hospital in less than four days, and 95% of the cases were considered mild.
“There is a likelihood of a connection between receiving a second dose of vaccine and the onset of myocarditis in young men aged 16-30,” the group of experts concluded. “The connection is stronger in young people aged 16-19 compared to other ages and it decreases as age increases.”
The new analysis “is very suggestive of a causal nature” between the vaccine and myocarditis, said Dror Mevorach, head of internal medicine at the Hadassah University Medical Center who was tasked with leading the panel. “I am convinced there is a relationship.”
“It does suggest that this is, at least statistically, a real phenomenon,” said Peter Liu, a cardiologist and chief scientific officer of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute.
Douglas Diekema, a pediatrician and bioethicist at Seattle Children’s Hospital, said it’s important to investigate “even a hint of a signal.” However he cautioned that “while this report is suggestive … it requires validation in other populations by other investigators before we can be certain the link exists.”
In a statement, Pfizer said there is still no indication the cases are due to its vaccine. Myocarditis is often caused by viral infections, and COVID infections have been reported to cause the condition, the drugmaker said.
Pfizer’s partner, BioNTech, said more than 300 million doses of the COVID vaccine have been administered globally and the “benefit-risk profile” of the vaccine remains positive.
“A careful assessment of the reports is ongoing and it has not been concluded,” the company said. “Adverse events, including myocarditis and pericarditis, are being regularly and thoroughly reviewed by the companies as well as by regulatory authorities.”
The Israeli panel’s findings come as Israel and many European countries debate whether younger adolescents should be vaccinated against COVID. A decision to include the 12 to 15 age group in the country’s vaccination program has not yet been made.
According to the Health Ministry, a recommendation regarding the vaccination for children ages 12-15 will soon be formulated by the epidemiological team and will be communicated to the ministry’s director general.
Other countries, including the U.S. and Canada, began vaccinating children 12 and older in May. As The Defender reported, a group of more than 40 UK doctors last month in an open letter told Britain’s drug regulation agency that vaccinating children for COVID is “irresponsible, unethical and unnecessary.”
The preliminary findings of the Israeli panel studying a possible link between the vaccine and myocarditis were first leaked by Channel 12 at the end of April. Channel 12 mentioned two cases of people succumbing to the disease, but said there was no certainty as to the link between these cases and the vaccine.”
It thus is like a lottery, with a low probability that you might get the lucky prize of myocarditis, so again, nothing to see here folks. Move on, go home, the election has been surrendered! Ooops, sorry, wrong political issue!