The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated on April 11 that COVID-19 vaccines were not linked to sudden cardiac death among previously healthy young individuals. Since the authorization of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines in late 2020, some anti-vaccination groups in the country have blamed the shots for fatal heart issues in young athletes.
The CDC acknowledged that vaccination has been linked to myocarditis in adolescents and young adults, raising concerns about potential vaccine-related cardiac fatalities in this age group. “In April 2021, cases of myocarditis after COVID-19 vaccination, particularly among young male vaccine recipients, were reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System,” it added.
To investigate this possibility, researchers examined the death certificates of individuals aged 16 to 30 from Oregon who died between June 2021 and December 2022 due to cardiac or undetermined causes.
Among the individuals who passed away, investigators checked Oregon’s immunization information system to see if they had received a COVID-19 vaccination within 100 days or less before their death. Out of the 1,292 identified deaths, Covid-19 was listed as the cause of death for 30 individuals, according to the CDC.
“For 101 others, a cardiac cause of death could not be excluded; among these decedents, immunization information system records were available for 88, three of whom had received an mRNA (Messenger RNA) COVID-19 vaccination within 100 days of the death,” it said.
The CDC pointed out that of the 40 deaths that occurred among people who were vaccinated against the virus, three occurred within 100 of inoculation.
“Two of these deaths were attributed to chronic underlying conditions; the cause was undetermined for one. No death certificate attributed death to vaccination,” the health body further said.
