On Tuesday, Israel’s Ministry of Health announced that a small number of heart inflammation (myocarditis) cases, mostly in young males who received
Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine was likely linked to the vaccination.

Pfizer responded that it was aware of the cases of myocarditis reported in Israel but that no causal link to its vaccine had been established.

1. In a study commissioned by the ministry, 275 cases of myocarditis were reported between December 2020 and May 2021 among more than five million vaccinated people.
2. The study conducted by three teams of experts 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.”
3. 95 percent of the patients who experienced heart inflammation were listed as mild.
4. Most patients who exhibited heart inflammation spent no more than four days in the hospital.
5. The link was seen more with men aged 16 to 19 than in other age groups.
6. Last month, a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory committee advised that the likelihood of a relationship between myocarditis and mRNA vaccines, such as those made by Pfizer and Moderna Inc, be investigated further.
7. The CDC advisory committee noted that data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), which relies on individuals to report results, showed a higher than expected number of instances of myocarditis or pericarditis in 16– to 24-year-olds.
8. According to the European Medicines Agency (EMA), cardiac inflammation following the Pfizer vaccine was not a cause for worry because the rate of such occurrences was comparable to that of the general population.
9. The EMA went on to say that young males were particularly vulnerable to the disease at the time.
10. Israel ministry committee gave the go-ahead for vaccinating 12- to 15-year-olds. Nachman Ash, Israel’s pandemic-response coordinator, told Radio 103 FM. “The efficacy of the vaccine outweighs the risk,” Ash said.