The Centers for Disease Control says 323 cases of heart inflammation have been verified in young people who received COVID-19 vaccines. The agency is now exploring whether the vaccine actually caused those problems. But some of the state’s top doctors say fear of those side effects are not a good reason for young people to avoid getting the vaccine.
Dr. Sarabh Rajpal says there's a far greater risk of the heart inflammation called myocarditis from getting COVID than getting the vaccines to prevent the virus. He says there are 12.6 estimated cases of myocarditis per million second doses of COVID-19.
“Even if we compare the highest risk group, which is the 12-17 age group of males, the estimated risk is 70 per million second doses administered which is still about 70 times lower than the risk of myocarditis with COVID,” Rajpal says.
Doctors on the Ohio Department of Health’s call with reporters say if you are the unlikely few who get heart issues from the COVID vaccine, you will likely get a milder case of it. They note nearly all of those hospitalized in Ohio now with COVID-19 are unvaccinated.