A new study suggests that COVID-19 infection leads to “rare vascular and inflammatory conditions such as blood clots, myocarditis, and pericarditis” more frequently than COVID-19 vaccination does. CIDRAP has the news.
The study analyzed “linked electronic health records for nearly all (13.9 million) children in England.” Researchers evaluated “rates of short- and long-term risks of rare complications, including arterial and venous thrombosis (blood clots), thrombocytopenia (low platelet levels in the blood), myocarditis or pericarditis (inflammation of the heart or its surrounding tissue, respectively), and inflammatory conditions after COVID-19 diagnosis or vaccination.”
Among children infected with COVID during 15 months of follow-up, “researchers calculated event rates per 100,000 person-years of 5.26 for arterial thromboembolism, 10.64 for venous thromboembolism, 8.40 for thrombocytopenia, 4.47 for myocarditis or pericarditis, and 8.05 for systemic inflammatory conditions.” Meanwhile, those same numbers, respectively, in children who were vaccinated were 5.24, 13.30, 7.94, 6.94, and 6.90. Additionally, relative to no diagnosis, COVID diagnosis was associated with higher risks of many of these conditions.
One of the study coauthors wrote that “whilst vaccine-related risks are likely to remain rare and short-lived, future risks following infection could change as new variants emerge and immunity shifts. That's why whole-population health data monitoring remains essential to guide vaccine and other important public health decisions.”
