Host: The Japanese Society of Toxicology
Name : The 51st Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Toxicology
Date : July 03, 2024 - July 05, 2024
Since its emergence in late 2019, COVID-19 has become a major global health challenge, and COVID-19 vaccines has raised concerns regarding their safety profile, particularly in the pediatric population. Although rare, studies have reported myocarditis and pericarditis following COVID-19 vaccination. In this study, using a robust database, we investigated the risk of myocarditis in children who received COVID-19 vaccines. We used the VAERS, a comprehensive database to track adverse events after mRNA COVID-19 vaccination. Data were extracted from 2022; we focused on the occurrence of myocarditis among vaccine recipients. All children received one of the following vaccines approved in the United States: Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech, or Johnson & Johnson (Janssen). Vaccination rates were calculated using the 2022 CDC and Prevention data from the United States. Analysis of the 2022 VAERS data revealed the highest myocarditis reporting frequency in the 18–64 years group, ten cases in the 5–11 years group, and no case in the 0–4 years group. The reported cases of myocarditis per million were the highest among adolescents (12–17 years) at 8.1 cases, followed by 0.84 cases in the 5–11 years group, and no case in the 0–4 years group. This large-scale study highlights the risk of myocarditis in children who received COVID-19 vaccination. The highest incidence rate was observed in adolescents (12–17 years), with notably low rates observed in children aged ≤11 years. These findings are important for public health messaging and can significantly affect vaccine uptake decisions based on informed risk assessment.
