Pediatric cardiologists explain myocarditis and why teens should still get a Covid-19 vaccine

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Wed, 2021-06-16 19:24 — mike kraft

Pediatric cardiologists explain myocarditis and why your teen should still get a Covid-19 vaccine The news about a potential link between the Covid-19 vaccine and a cardiac ailment in young people may be striking fear in the hearts of some parents. Elizabeth Cohen, CNN Senior Medical Correspondent CNN

CNN)The news about a potential link between the Covid-19 vaccine and a cardiac ailment in young people may be striking fear in the hearts of some parents.

But pediatric cardiologists have a message for these parents: Covid-19 should scare you more -- a whole lot more -- than the vaccine.

And these doctors should know. They've treated young patients who've contracted this heart ailment after vaccination -- it's called myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle -- and they've also treated young patients who've had Covid-19.

There simply is no comparison between the two, they say.

Myocarditis sounds scary, but there are mild versions of it. In almost all cases among vaccinated young people (they were ages 16 to 24), the symptoms have gone away quickly. Covid-19, on the other hand, can be a long illness, or it can kill a young person -- it has already killed thousands of them.

CNN spoke with pediatric cardiologists Dr. Kevin Hall at the Yale School of Medicine and Dr. Stuart Berger at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, who is also chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics section on cardiology and cardiac surgery, about the cases of myocarditis that have been spotted among young people after vaccination with the Moderna or Pfizer Covid-19 vaccines.

Both doctors, as well as the American Heart Association and American Academy of Pediatrics, recommend the Covid-19 vaccine for young people....

It sounds like an inflamed heart would, by definition, always be a huge deal, right? But it isn't.

"Many times, people have myocarditis and don't even know it. It goes away and they're fine," Berger said. ...

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