4:33
- ABC News
- June 23, 2021
CDC says vaccines are safer than COVID risk
Heart inflammation in young people is an "extremely rare side effect."
4:33
Of the 323 cases the CDC discussed on Wednesday, 309 people had been hospitalized but 95%, or 295, were discharged by the time of the CDC's meeting and 79%, or 218, had recovered. Nine were still hospitalized and two were in the Intensive Care Unit, while 14 were not hospitalized at all.
\"Currently, the benefits still clearly outweigh the risks for COVID-19 vaccination in adolescents and young adults,\" Dr. Megan Wallace of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases said at the CDC meeting.
Young people between the ages of 18 to 24 already have the highest rates of COVID-19 cases, CDC data showed, while increasingly transmissible variants are becoming more dominant in the U.S.
And for every 1 million male teens -- the highest risk group -- an estimated 5,700 will get COVID, 215 will wind up in the hospital and two kids will die.
With myocarditis, the symptoms overwhelmingly resolve themselves and no deaths have been reported.
\"The good news is it's mild, it's short lived. It appears to be self resolving. And it's rare,\" Offit said.
Sixteen-year-old Noah Hiers of Hoover, Alabama, who experienced heart inflammation after receiving the vaccine, said he has since recovered and would still encourage others to get the vaccine.
He was hospitalized with chest pain for two days after getting the Pfizer vaccine. It went away within hours and doctors continue to monitor his case.
\"I would encourage everyone to get their children vaccinated and I think Noah feels the same way,\" Tanya Hiers, his mother, told ABC News.
\"Yes,\" Noah said. \"As far as we know there's zero long term effects from this -- so 100% would still get the vaccine.\"
Overall, CDC data shows the cases were highly concentrated in young men and teenage boys.
\"I think the take-home message here is that we're observing them in younger age groups, mainly people in the teens and early 20s, and observing it more in males, compared to females,\" Dr. Tom Shimabukuro, a member of the CDC's COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force, said at the meeting.
In fact, the cases largely flattened out in ages older than 25.
\"After about the mid 20s, it really flattens out. Most of these reports are occurring in individuals in their late teens and early 20s,\" he said.
There were more cases after the second dose, compared to the first dose, but in both situations the symptoms presented within a week and were mostly people in their late teens and early 20s.
\"Reassuringly the available outcome data indicates that patients generally recover from symptoms and do well,\" he also said.
There isn't long-term data on these cases, though, which is continuing to be monitored and part of the CDC's next steps.
\"Initial presentations are reassuring; however, continued monitoring of cases, clinical course, and long-term outcomes of myocarditis after mRNA vaccines will be important,\" the CDC said on a prepared slide of risk-benefit analysis.
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