- Monday, February 07, 2022
With the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine becoming available for children ages 5-11, there are concerns among parents about how safe the vaccine is for younger children. Is there any validity in the claims that the vaccine can cause cardiac damage or other serious side effects?
Updated Nov. 18, 2021 at 4:00 pm.
In the past few weeks, the Pfizer version of the COVID-19 vaccine was approved for children between the ages of 5 and 11 years old by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). While many parents and guardians have welcomed this development, others have expressed their concerns over administering the vaccine to young children, citing stories of serious complications, including cardiac arrest, organ damage and other issues. How valid are these claims, and how much should we worry about the side effects for children taking the COVID vaccine?
As with all vaccines, there is a slight chance of minor side effects occurring after vaccination. In the extensive trials conducted by Pfizer for children ages 5-12, the most common side effects for children, usually after the second dose of the vaccine, were mild fatigue and headaches. Fatigue was found in 39.4% of children and headaches in 28%, compared to 65.6% and 60.9% of adults. The same reduced rate for children is true for chills (9.8% vs. 40% of ages 12 and up) and for fever (6.5% vs. 17.2%). These side effects are normally short-lived, and are normal side effects for general medical vaccines.
The more serious concern for the COVID-19 vaccine would be the possibility of side effects affecting the body’s organs, especially the heart. In particular, the issues of myocarditis (the inflammation of the heart muscle) and pericarditis (inflammation of the lining outside the heart) have been areas of concern for earlier vaccine recipients. In a July study on teenagers 12-17 who had received the Pfizer vaccine, 397 cases (0.004%) of myocarditis were found out of nearly 9 million adolescents who had received the vaccine. The majority of these cases were male, and exhibited symptoms such as chest pains, shortness of breath, and the feeling of a rapidly beating heart, occurring after the second dose. The vast number of these cases were mild and the teens recovered rapidly with rest and medical treatment.
With younger children in the 5-11 age group, the prospect of avoiding any heart-related issues seems even better. The Pfizer study sought to focus on detecting any signs of myocarditis or heart-related issues – and found none in the trial subjects. Dr. Allison Eckard at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) College of Medicine acknowledges this, and expects heart-related issues from the vaccine to continue to be more rare for younger age groups.
In fact, there is strong evidence that it is much more likely for children to develop heart problems from contracting the COVID virus. Evidence points to a connection between the development of multi-system inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) and COVID. MIS-C is an inflammatory condition that may not only effect the heart, but other organs such as the lungs, kidneys, brain and eyes. A recent JAMA study notes that MIS-C often occurs within a couple of weeks of COVID-19 infection, as a delayed response to the virus.
Even if myocarditis alone is considered, it still seems that the risk of children with COVID-19 developing a long-term condition is far higher than those who haven’t been affected – as much as 37 times more likely (150 cases per 100,000 infected patients, versus only 9 per 100,000 uninfected ones). This is not surprising, as other viral infections are often seen to increase the likelihood of heart inflammation.
So, in general, side effects of the COVID-19 Pfizer vaccine tend to be infrequent and mild, and there is little or no risk found for developing heart conditions such as myocarditis from an injection. If anything, the COVID-19 virus itself is far more likely to lead to cardiac inflammation and other serious side effects. But if you still have doubts about having your children take the Pfizer vaccine, you can follow the Surgeon General's advice and seek out credible sources that you trust – your child’s pediatrician, your local children’s hospital/clinic and other medical experts that you may know – for credible and accurate information.
With the Coronavirus (COVID-19) currently impacting the U.S., we've compiled a list of resources and information to help you and your family stay informed. For additional COVID-19 resources and information, click here.
For general COVID information via phone, call:
-- DHEC Care Line (General COVID Information) 855-472-3432
-- CDC Info (General COVID Information) 800-232-4636
-- Richland County Health Department 855-472-3432