Israel: Probable link between Pfizer vaccine and myocarditis cases

Israel’s Health Ministry last week said the heart inflammation cases observed in those who received Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine were likely linked to their vaccination.

Reuters reported a Pfizer statement saying the corporation is aware of the Israeli myocarditis reports yet continued to maintain that no causal link to its vaccine had been established.

Disclosing the findings of a study it commissioned to examine the reports, the Health Ministry said 275 cases of post-vaccination myocarditis were reported between December 2020 and May 2021.

The study found "there is a probable link between receiving the second dose (of Pfizer) vaccine and the appearance of myocarditis among men aged 16 to 30," it said in a statement. According to the findings, such a link was observed more among men aged 16 to 19 than in other age groups.

A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory group last month recommended further study of the possibility of a link between myocarditis and mRNA vaccines, which include those from Pfizer and Moderna Inc.