A recent study led by researchers at Oxford University found that cases of myocarditis and pericarditis, which are heart inflammations, only occurred after vaccination and not after COVID-19 infection.
The study analyzed over 1 million English children aged 5 to 11 and adolescents aged 12 to 15, comparing vaccinated and unvaccinated minors.
It was found that vaccinated adolescents had a higher incidence of post-vaccine myocarditis and pericarditis than children.
However, despite this increased risk, vaccinated adolescents had significantly lower chances of testing positive for COVID-19 and needing hospitalization and critical care compared to their unvaccinated counterparts.
Vaccinated children did not show substantial differences from unvaccinated children in terms of COVID-19 infection and hospitalization.
The study also revealed that all cases of myocarditis and pericarditis occurred in vaccinated individuals, with no deaths reported.
England's data showed that myocarditis and pericarditis were only documented in the vaccinated, contradicting previous studies that showed a higher incidence of myocarditis after COVID-19 infection.
In total, there were 15 cases of pericarditis and three cases of myocarditis among the vaccinated group, with all cases of myocarditis and most cases of pericarditis appearing in the adolescent cohort.
The study concluded that adolescents may benefit more from COVID-19 vaccines than children due to a greater risk of myocarditis post-vaccination and a lower risk reduction of hospitalization due to COVID-19 infection in children.
It was also noted that while children and adolescents were more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 than develop myocarditis or pericarditis, the risks of severe COVID-19 outcomes were significantly reduced by vaccination for adolescents but not for children.
Researchers have been intrigued by the fact that young children have a survival advantage compared to adults when it comes to COVID-19, potentially due to their faster-responding innate immune system.
