The Centers for Disease Control is considering changing the timeline for the administration of a second Moderna and Pfizer Wuhan coronavirus vaccine dose. The consideration comes after a rushed timeline caused heart inflammation in a number of patients.
"Dr. Sara Oliver, an official at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said the agency was considering making the recommendation for Moderna (MRNA.O) and Pfizer (PFE.N)/BioNTech shots during a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a panel of outside advisers to the CDC," Reuters reports.
Currently, the CDC recommends individuals receive their second dose of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines three and four weeks after an initial dose. The government agency may now recommend a second dose eight weeks after the first.
In October a number of European countries limited Moderna's use due to an alarming number of myocarditis cases.
The Swedish health agency said on Oct. 6, 2021 it would pause using the shot for people born in 1991 and later as data pointed to an increase of myocarditis and pericarditis among youths and young adults who had been vaccinated. Those conditions involve an inflammation of the heart or its lining
Meanwhile an Oxford University study show the risk of myocarditis for young people is higher from the vaccine than it is from natural infection.
A case series published in @NatureMedicine shows an increased risk of myocarditis after receiving the Astra-Zeneca-Oxford, Pfizer-BioNTech and the Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, but SARS-CoV-2 infection carried a greater risk of myocarditis. https://t.co/6y7pZlJN70 pic.twitter.com/cBlKz9sUkg
— Nature Portfolio (@NaturePortfolio) December 14, 2021
"In under 40-year-old people...dose two of Moderna has exceeded the risk of myocarditis after infection with a second dose," Dr. Vinay Prasad said about the study. "There have been many people who have been reluctant to take serious the risks of myocarditis after the Moderna product."
"If you're under 40 and if you pool men and women together, there is more myocarditis associated with dose two of Moderna than there is with an infection. That is a bombshell finding," he continued.