COVID-19 causes far more heart inflammation in teenagers than the vaccines that protect against it, says new research.
“Comparative risk can complicate decisions for parents in such highly charged health debates,” says Mendel Singer, the lead author of the study and vice chair for education at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland.
“But our study shows that for parents concerned for their teens about myocarditis/pericarditis [heart inflammation], the safer choice is vaccination.”
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The researcher with his colleagues compared the health records of 7,300 girls and 6,800 boys (ages 12-17) in the United States who were diagnosed with COVID to the same number of children in the same age group who had adverse reactions to mRNA COVID vaccines.
After the first and second doses of an mRNA vaccine, the risk of heart inflammation (myocarditis/pericarditis) among teen girls with COVID was 21 times higher than the combined risk.
According to findings published on July 27 in the preprint server medRxiv, the risk of heart inflammation from COVID was nearly six times higher than the risk of heart inflammation from vaccination in teen boys. The research has yet to be peer-reviewed.
“Even with our calculations made to qualify possible gaps in the data from this large dataset, our findings still point to a higher risk of myocarditis/pericarditis among teens who get COVID-19,” said Dr David Kaelber, the study co-author. He also mentioned that he is also a concerned father.
“Based on our findings, on my daughter’s 12th birthday, we went to get her a COVID-19 vaccination to be sure she is protected, and to protect other members of our family,” Kaelber added.
“With the highly contagious Delta variant going around, and the new school year around the corner, this is a good time for parents to be reassured that vaccination is safer for their kids than getting COVID-19.”
Concerned parents frequently seek vaccine advice from co-author Dr Ira Taub, a paediatric cardiologist at Akron Children’s Hospital Center in Ohio. He retaliated with a warning.
“There are other consequences from getting COVID-19, including the risk that teens can carry the disease to vulnerable family members,” Taub noted.
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“I emphasize as well that vaccination is safer than getting COVID-19.”
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