Researchers from the US claim that healthy boys are more likely to be admitted for an uncommon side effect of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid vaccination that causes inflammation of their hearts than they are for Covid.
The analysis of medical data revealed that boys between the ages of 12 and 15 with no other medical conditions are four to six times as likely to develop vaccine-related myocarditis.
The rare side effect was most common in children who had received the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine within days. However, Moderna jabs can cause similar symptoms. According to the authors, 86% of boys who were affected needed hospital treatment.
Saul Faust from the University of Southampton was a professor of paediatric immunelogy and infectious diseases. He said that the results seemed to support the cautious approach of the UK's Joint Committee on Vaccines and Immunisations regarding teenage vaccines.
Although the JCVI didn't recommend vaccination of healthy 12- to 15-year olds, it referred the matter the UKs chief medical officials who are expected make a final determination next week. The shots are available to children aged 12-15 who are at high risk for Covid or live with an at-risk individual.
The latest study by Dr Tracy Heg from the University of California, and his colleagues, examined adverse reactions to Covid vaccines among US children 12-17 years old during the first six months of 2020. The rate of myocarditis following two shots of BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine is 162.2 cases per thousand for healthy boys aged 12-15 and 94 for healthy boys 16-17. For girls, the equivalent rates were 13.4 cases per million and 13 cases for every million. They estimated that the chance of a healthy teenager being admitted to a hospital with Covid within the next 120 days at current US infection rates is 44 per million.
The reliability of the data and the possibility that similar numbers could be seen in the UK, if healthy 12- to 15-year olds were vaccinated in the UK are not known. In the US vaccine reactions are recorded differently and shots are given at shorter intervals in the UK. The UK medicines regulator states that myocarditis rates after Covid vaccination are only six per million shots.
Children in the UK have not yet been admitted to hospital with Covid. This suggests that they are not at high risk for long-term Covid. The Clock study showed that although 14% of Covid-infected children may still be experiencing symptoms 15 weeks after the initial diagnosis, fatigue levels are similar to children who have not contracted the virus. Children may be immune to some of the most severe symptoms seen in adults with long-term Covid.
Myocarditis is most common after the second dose of vaccine. Therefore, single shots may be beneficial for children and reduce side effects.
Professor Faust said that although myocarditis following vaccination is extremely rare, it may be possible to alter the first or second doses of vaccines or combine vaccines differently to reduce the risk. Once we have a better understanding of the physiology, however, Prof Faust believes we might be able to prevent the risk. From a medical standpoint, it is not urgent to immunise children. However, if schools fail to provide education for all, the balance may shift. My GP wife and i will allow my teenage children to get the vaccine if they are offered by the NHS.
Professor Adam Finn from the University of Bristol is a member of JCVI. He stated: I stand behind the JCVI advice. It is not to proceed with vaccinating healthy 12- to 15-year olds on health outcome benefit risk-benefit grounds. There is a small, but plausible, risk that minor harms could outweigh the modest benefits.
