The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended the teenagers get vaccinated against COVID-19. According to the CDC reports, around seven million teenagers in the United States have received the COVID-19 vaccine so far. The vaccines are said to be very effective in this age group, and even the side effects are very mild.
However, in a recent study, agencies have received few cases of mild chest pain and heart inflammation (known as myocarditis) in a small percentage of teens and young adults soon after vaccination. Mostly, teenagers and young adults between the age group of 12 and 40 had these health issues, the agency says.
More than 300 cases of heart inflammation have been verified in people who received the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, CDC reported. As of now, no deaths have been reported due to these side effects.
Meanwhile, Israeli health officials identified men aged 16 to 24 who received the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine developed this rare condition, known as myocarditis. According to them, over 60 cases of this health problem were reported in the country in April. Most of the cases were mild and resolved in few weeks.
What is Myocarditis?
Myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart muscle (myocardium). It can reduce the heart's ability to pump and cause rapid or abnormal heart paces, often triggered by the body's immune response to infections. Symptoms can include chest pain, fatigue, shortness of breath, and temporarily abnormal ECG.
People with early-stage myocarditis do not have any symptoms. But severe myocarditis can weaken your heart, affecting the blood circulation system, which tends to form clots, thus leading to a stroke or heart attack.
"For people experiencing symptoms, the best thing to do is to talk to their physician or come to the emergency room for evaluation", Dr. Kristen Sexson Tejtel, a cardiologist at Texas Children's Hospital, said.
The patients must report to their pediatrician anything they experience any symptoms of Myocasditis in the first week after vaccination, vaccine experts suggested.
The CDC recommends that if a person develops myocarditis after the first dose, they must wait until the condition resolves, and the heart returns to a normal state before getting their second dose. The findings do not change the basic recommendation that all people aged 12 and older should receive their Covid-19 vaccine, CDC added.
