Cardiac complications after COVID infection or vaccination are rare but possible, the CDC says—but they’re much more likely after infection

The US Centers for Disease Control said Friday that there are more likely to occur after an infection than after a vaccine is given.

The organization cited a new study that examined the electronic health records of millions of patients at 40 U.S. health care systems.

Young males ages 12 to 17 saw the highest incidence of cardiac events during the post-vaccine window. According to the study, the risk of a group experiencing a cardiac event after an infectious disease was more than six times higher than the group that didn't.

Cardiac events were higher in males ages 18 to 29 after the second dose of the vaccine than the first, but just a fraction of what occurred after infection.

There were no cardiac events for females ages 5-11 after they received the vaccine. The incidence of cardiac events in women between the ages of 18 and 29 was larger than the incidence of cardiac events after infections, but the incidence was less.