1.) Persistent heart abnormalities, teens, new study
A new peer-reviewed study published March 25 in the Journal of Pediatrics showed more than two-thirds of adolescents with COVID vaccine-related myopericarditis had persistent heart abnormalities months after their initial diagnosis — raising concerns for potential long-term effects.
Researchers at Seattle Children’s Hospital reviewed cases that occurred between April 1, 2021, and Jan. 7, 2022, of patients younger than 18 who presented to the hospital with chest pain and an elevated serum troponin level within one week of receiving a second dose of Pfizer’s vaccine.
While 35 patients fit the criteria, 19 were excluded for various reasons. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the remaining 16 patients was performed three to eight months after they were first examined.
The MRIs showed 11 had persistent abnormal findings and late gadolinium enhancement (LGE), although levels were lower than in previous months.
According to the study, “The presence of LGE is an indicator of cardiac injury and fibrosis and has been strongly associated with worse prognosis in patients with classical acute myocarditis.”
Pfizer’s COVID vaccine less effective against Omicron for children 12 and older
Pfizer’s COVID vaccine showed “reduced effectiveness” against the Omicron variant among children 12 and older, according to a study published Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine.
The study, funded by the CDC, involved 1,185 patients, 88% of whom were unvaccinated.
During the “Delta-predominant period” (July 1 to Dec. 18, 2021), researchers reported vaccine effectiveness against hospitalization for COVID among adolescents 12 to 18 years old was 93% two to 22 weeks after vaccination.
During the “Omicron-predominant period” (Dec. 19, 2021, to Feb. 17), among adolescents in the same age group, vaccine effectiveness fell to 40% against hospitalization for COVID, 79% against critical COVID and 20% against noncritical COVID. This group’s median interval since vaccination was 162 days.
The study did not assess effectiveness of Pfizer’s COVID vaccine against the BA.2 Omicron sub-variant, which is now the most dominant strain in the U.S.
https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/heart-damage-teens-after-second-pfizer-shot/
https://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(22)00282-7/fulltext#%20
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