By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH
Before COVID-19 myocarditis was rare and always alerted cardiologists to future risks of two outcomes: 1) heart failure, 2) arrythmias (ventricular tachycardia/fibrillation) leading to cardiopulmonary arrest. Buchan and colleagues reported 77 Canadian teenagers age 12-17 who needlessly suffered myopericarditis after the Pfizer mRNA vaccine. Sixty six percent occurred after dose #2 and only 7% had prior COVID-19, so the vaccine was to blame in the vast majority of cases. Hospitalization occurred in 44% and their were no deaths. These cases occurred in 2020-2021 and there is no mention of follow-up or risk of future cardiac arrest.
The most common question I receive from concerned and regretful parents is “will my child be OK after getting through myopericarditis?” Buchan and colleagues have the answer in their data and Canadians deserve to know how those 77 kids are doing now two years later.
Ethical research should be responsive to public needs in the setting of a pandemic crisis. The COVID-19 vaccines have caused record injuries, disabilities, and death. Let’s hope medical researchers holding data on vaccine injuries publish longer term outcomes soon so physicians can accurately prognosticate for this now common form of cardiac injury.