Israel’s Health Ministry revealed on June 1, 2021, that it found heart inflammation cases in young men who received the Pfizer vaccine in Israel. On the contrary, Pfizer reported that it did not observe a high or abnormal rate of myocarditis in the vaccine trials.
Is there a connection between the Pfizer vaccine and myocarditis?
In the last six months, Israel reported 275 cases of myocarditis out of over 5 million vaccinated populations. That is 0.0055 percent of the vaccinated population! However, according to a study conducted in Israel, heart disease surfaced in late teenage boys of ages 16 to 19.
According to the study, over 95 percent of patients who experienced heart inflammation had a mild episode of myocarditis. “There is a probable link between receiving the second dose of Pfizer vaccine. This caused the appearance of myocarditis among men aged 16 to 30,” it said. In addition to this, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) reported that heart inflammation following the vaccination with comorbidity was not of concern since it can happen to the general population irrespective of the vaccine.
Research on the vaccine and its side effects
Several countries and organizations are studying the existence of a link between mRNA vaccines and myocarditis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is monitoring cases in case of potential adverse effects.
“The committee gave the green light for vaccinating 12- to 15-year-olds, and this will be possible as of next week,” said Nachman Ash, the pandemic-response coordinator for Israel. “The efficacy of the vaccine outweighs the risk,” he added.
So far, Israel is leading in its vaccination rollouts and has less than 350 active cases across the country. Over 55 percent of the country is vaccinated. Travel restrictions are in place, but things might improve once the whole population gets the vaccination.