A recently published study of 6.2 million people who received a COVID vaccine against mRNA found no “serious health effects” related to the traits.
The study, published in JAMA on Friday, asked the following question: “Are COVID-19 mRNA vaccines associated with an increased risk of serious health outcomes during days 1 to 21 after vaccination?”
Vaccine recipients who were part of eight health plan networks, including HealthPartners, were monitored to detect “health events” during the 21 days following the Modern or Pfizer vaccine, for a period from December 14. from 2020 to June 26, 2021.
The researchers, after sorting and analyzing the data, “found that no serious health effects could be related to the two mRNA vaccines currently used to protect against COVID-19,” he said. say Minnesota-based HealthPartners in a press release.
“Our data validate the safety profile of these mRNA vaccines,” said Elyse Kharbanda, MD, a senior researcher at the HealthPartners Institute and co-author of the study. “Vaccines are our best hope to return to more normal lives. They help prevent COVID-19 and we can feel even more confident that they are safe. “
The researchers specifically observed 23 potential side effects of the vaccine, including:
- Encephalitis / myelitis
- Seizures
- Guillain-Barre syndrome
- Acute myocardial infarction
- Stroke
- Pulmonary embolism
- Paralysis of the bell
- Appendicitis
- Anaphylaxis
- Multisystem inflammatory syndrome
The researchers monitored “safety signs” during their tests, HealthPartners said, signs of recurring and emerging concerns.
None of the 23 health events occurred at a rate that triggered a “safety signal”.
However, the study authors highlighted a couple of serious incidents.
First, inflammation of the heart (myocarditis or pericarditis, depending on which part of the heart is inflamed). Health officials have previously recognized some cases of heart inflammation the week after the mRNA vaccine, mostly among men under 30. They have called these side effects rare, noting that there were approximately 12.6 cases of heart inflammation per million doses administered.
Cases of heart inflammation in adolescents after a COVID vaccine have been “mild and self-dissolving”.
In the study published Friday, researchers noted 34 cases of heart inflammation (85% of them in men) among young people aged 12 to 39 years. This showed an “slight risk” of an additional 6.3 cases per million doses administered, with approximately 80% hospitalized for an average of one day.
But the researchers said there is no “significant association” between mRNA vaccines and myocarditis or pericarditis.
HealthPartners also points to a recent separate study that showed that heart inflammation events were “much more likely” after receiving a COVID-19 infection than an mRNA vaccine.
The researchers also mentioned allergic reactions (anaphylaxis) that occur more frequently after COVID mRNA vaccines than the 1-2 cases per million doses observed with some other vaccines, including the flu. Almost all incidents of anaphylaxis after COVID vaccines occurred in recipient women.
Since Sept. 1, 3,327,769 people in Minnesota have received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine. This includes the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which was not part of this recently published study.