“After more than five billion vaccine doses administered worldwide, the information we have available is very clear,” the professor Giulio Pompilio, Scientific Director of the Monzino Cardiology Center, intervenes on the topic of vaccines and complications for the heart on the basis of the scientific and epidemiological data available.
“It must be said right away that an association has been reported between vaccines, especially RNA vaccines, and myo-pericardial complications, however this association is extremely rare and in the vast majority of cases does not have serious consequences and resolves spontaneously. For example, the Vaccine Practices Committee of the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention has found a 0.0004% chance of contracting myo-pericarditis after administration of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, “says Pompilio.
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What are myocarditis and pericarditis
Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle typically associated with viral, bacterial, or fungal (or fungal) infections. When the heart is infected with an infection, the infectious agent damages or destroys the muscle cells; at the same time the cells of the immune system, appointed to fight it, can in turn damage the heart muscle, contributing significantly to the global picture. In this rare circumstance the walls of the heart weaken, giving rise to the typical symptoms of heart failure.
Conversely, pericarditis is inflammation of the pericardium, that is, the structure that covers and protects the heart. In most cases, pericarditis is due to a viral infection.
Very rare events and almost always without consequences
“These rare events occurred more frequently in the male population and in young people. It should also be said that in the cases, about one third, in which hospitalization was necessary, the vast majority were discharged without any consequences. Similarly, the Israeli Ministry of Health reported a prevalence of 0.0001% of myocarditis following RNA vaccination, with the same American epidemiological characteristics. Regarding viral vector vaccines, the available data seem to indicate that cardiological complications still occur with frequency. minor “, specifies Pompilius. The reasons why these rare events develop after vaccination are not yet fully understood, adds the professor, it is hypothesized that they are to be attributed, in predisposed subjects, to a hyperactivation of the immune response with generation of autoantibodies and to the activation of a important inflammatory cascade.
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“The available data therefore well describe how wrong it is to spread alarmist messages about heart problems caused by vaccines, especially if we compare them to what we know about the damage to the cardiovascular system caused by SARS-Cov2 infection – says Pompilio -. the virus was very dangerous for the heart, it was immediately hypothesized, already with the first data from China. Today we know well that a variable percentage between 12 and 20% of patients hospitalized for Covid-19 suffer from objectified heart damage ” .
Cardiac anomalies from myocarditis are present in up to 3% in healthy young patients who contract the virus. In addition, data from cardiology around the world clearly indicates that myocarditis cases have increased by more than 40% compared to the pre-pandemic year, with a major relative contribution from the SARS-Cov2 virus, he added.
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These are the data following the acute phase. In addition, a complex syndrome is being studied today, called Long-Covid, fortunately not frequent, which includes a series of long-term sequelae after infection, which also affect the heart, of which we do not yet know the persistence and the gravity.
“It is therefore clear how disproportionate it is to compare vaccines to the virus with regard to cardiological problems. I feel it necessary to reiterate that vaccination today is the main tool we have to protect ourselves and those with whom we come in contact from pandemics”, concluded Pompilio. .
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