Myocarditis and pericarditis in those vaccinated with Pfizer in Israel
The Ministry of Health of Israel announced on Sunday that it is examining a number of cases of heart inflammation in people who had received the vaccine Covdi-19 Pfizer. The coordinator of response to the Israeli pandemic, Nachman Ash, explained that there have been "dozens of incidents" of myocarditis, reports the Reuters news agency , in vaccinated with Pfizer after receiving, above all, the second dose. To date, Israel has already vaccinated more than 5 million with two doses.
"The Ministry of Health is currently examining whether there is excess morbidity (disease rate) and whether it can be attributed to vaccines," Ash said. Determining a link, he said, would be difficult because myocarditis, a condition that often goes away without complications, can be caused by a variety of viruses and a similar number of cases have been reported in previous years.
Myocarditis in Spain in vaccinated with Pfizer
These cases of myocarditis have also been registered in Spain. Specifically, the Spanish Journal of Cardiology published this April a clinical case of myocarditis in a 39-year-old doctor six hours after receiving the second dose of Pfizer. The patient was treated with anti-inflammatory drugs and was admitted as a precaution.
The prognosis was good and it was not possible to conclude that the vaccine was the cause of myocarditis. However, the published article states that there are numerous cases of myocarditis and pericarditis described in relation to the administration of different vaccines, as reflected in the US Vaccine Adverse Effects Reporting System (VAERS) 1. Thus, of 620,195 reported adverse effects, 708 (0.1%) were described as myopericarditis.
However, this condition is not covered in the Pfizer vaccine safety study, and the adverse reactions described are from the cardiovascular sphere: isolated cases of acute coronary syndrome, atrial fibrillation, ventricular extrasystole, and cardiac arrest.
Pfizer, consulted by Reuter s about the Israeli Health Ministry review, said it is in regular contact with the Ministry to review data on its vaccine. The company said it "is aware of Israeli observations of myocarditis that occurred predominantly in a population of young men who received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine."
