Officials: Heart problems in young rare after COVID-19 vaccine
A CDC advisory panel found that heart problems after the COVID-19 vaccine are extremely rare in young people.
On Wednesday, the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) met to go over the latest data on reports of mild cases of inflammation of the heart muscle and surrounding tissue called myocarditis and pericarditis following COVID-19 vaccination among younger people.
Officials found this is an extremely rare side effect and only a small number of people will experience it after vaccination.
For the young people who do experience the condition, most cases are mild and people recover often on their own or with minimal treatment, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services noted in a statement.
Officials say myocarditis and pericarditis are much more common if you get COVID-19, and the risks to the heart from COVID-19 infection can be more severe.
The CDC and FDA have confirmed 393 reports of myocarditis or pericarditis among people ages 30 and younger who received the COVID-19 vaccine.
"While there appears to be a very small risk of myocarditis after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine -- as the ACIP discussed -- the benefits of these COVID-19 vaccines clearly outweigh the risks," said Bruce Vanderhoff, the Ohio Department of Health Chief Medical Officer.
During a news conference Thursday, Vanderhoff noted that discussing the issue even though there is a small risk shows the vaccine safety system working exactly as it should.
"Thanks to the extensive safety monitoring systems in the United States, we can really have confidence that we have the systems in place to identify this risk -- though it is very small," Vanderhoff said.
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services states officials strongly encourage everyone age 12 and older to get vaccinated if they're eligible since the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks.
"Especially with the troubling Delta variant increasingly circulating, and more readily impacting younger people, the risks of being unvaccinated are far greater than any rare side effects from the vaccines," the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services noted in a statement.
