As with any drug, people must do a cost-benefit analysis, weighing the risk of the disease against the risk from the drug. A new study upped the ante on the COVID-19 vaccine for adolescents.
Dr. Panda reported about a new study on his substack, which suggests that heart damage from the vaccine is very real and potentially permanent in young people. He described it as very worrying in that it found “permanent heart damage in a huge percentage (58%) of young people that had vaccine-induced myocarditis.”
The study, Cardiovascular Assessment up to One Year After COVID-19 Vaccine–Associated Myocarditis, “found 58% of young adolescents diagnosed with COVID-19 vaccine–associated myocarditis had some scarring of the heart muscle that is still visible on CMR imaging one year after the initial diagnosis — in other words, 58% had permanent heart damage,” Dr. Panda writes.
“Once heart muscle cells are damaged by myocarditis, they are replaced by scar tissue. Scar tissue is not as elastic or contractile as healthy heart muscle, so it cannot pump blood as efficiently. This can lead to a number of heart problems, including heart failure, arrhythmias, and sudden cardiac death,” Dr. Panda explained.
“The participants in the study were 40 adolescent patients, mostly male, with a mean age of 15.
“78% of patients were asymptomatic — meaning without the study, the patients or the parents would have no reason to believe they were suffering from heart damage.”