The officials from Health Ministry in Israel have said that they have been investigating a tiny number of cases of heart inflammation in people who have been given the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID19 vaccine. They have said that they have not been able to draw any conclusions yet. The officials from the company Pfizer have claimed that they have not seen a higher rate of such a side effect than what is expected in the general population. The pandemic response coordinator of the country, Nachman Ash has said that early findings of a report have shown that tens of cases of myocarditis have been taking place in more than five million people who have been given the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine, especially after the second jab. Nachman Ash has noted that experts have not been able to identify whether the rate of heart inflammation has been unusually high or it is linked to the vaccine. As per the report, most of the cases of myocarditis have been found in those people who are in the age range of 30 years and above. Health experts are trying to find out if these cases are happening due to a higher number of morbidity or these cases can be linked to the Pfizer vaccine.
Health experts from Israel have said that identifying a cause behind these myocarditis cases would be hard as the disease often fades away without leading to any complications. The disease can be caused by a wide range of viruses. Similar numbers of cases of heart inflammation have been reported in the country in the past as well. The drugmakers are helping health officials in Israel to review data on their COVID19 vaccine. The officials of the company have admitted that they are aware of the analysis of myocarditis cases by the Israeli government where a number of young men have been diagnosed with the condition, who has been vaccinated with their COVID19 vaccine. The company has said that a causal link between these cases of myocarditis and their vaccine has not been determined yet. Scientists from the company have said that at this time, it cannot be concluded that myocarditis is a risk linked to the use of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine.
Israel has been leading in the vaccine rollout program across the world. As per the report, nearly 60 percent of its 9.3 million population has been vaccinated with the two full doses of the Pfizer vaccine. The nationwide database has revealed that the vaccine is extremely effective in preventing the symptoms of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and severe infection linked to COVID19. Since the vaccine rollout program has started in the country, the rate of daily new infections has reduced from 10000 to 129 per day within a week. The director of the School of public health at Israel’s Ben Gurion University, Nadav Davidovitch has said that even if a link between myocarditis cases and the Pfizer vaccine is identified, health officials should not stop administering the vaccine, as the side effect does not seem to be severe enough. He has said that the situation needs to be investigated properly and the officials should wait for a final report. An interim analysis has shown that the risk of contracting the virus is much higher than the adverse reactions of the vaccine. Nadav Davidovitch has said that the risk of such heart inflammation after getting the vaccine is much lower as of now.
