LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — In Arkansas and across the country, a rare side effect from the COVID-19 vaccine is gaining attention from health experts.
“I would say people should be more worried about their young adolescent or young men themselves getting the infection with COVID-19,” Joel Tumlison, a physician with the Arkansas Department of Health, said.
He said the condition known as Myocarditis could be caused by viral infections like the coronavirus.
"Something that someone can get for various reasons. Different in young people, different kinds of viral infections can cause influenza and Kawasaki virus,” Tumlison said.
He added that Myocarditis is something that has the potential to happen after someone is vaccinated, but it is more common for people who do not get the shot.
“It's also even more common if you get the COVID-19 infection,” Tumlison said.
Dr. Chad Rodgers, Chief Medical Officer with the Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care, said the rare condition can create inflammation on the heart tissues.
“It’s kind of a rare thing to happen, Rodgers said. "It happens frequently in children, when it does occur more often than adults but it's usually the bodies response to sort of a viral infection.”
As of now, there are no reported cases of Myocarditis in Arkansas, but Dr. Rodgers said it is important for teenagers eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine to still get the shot because they are more likely to be affected by Myocarditis.
“The benefits of getting the vaccine and protecting your children and protecting others from COVID itself, greatly outweighs the risk of developing what has shown to be just a very mild Myocarditis,” Rodgers said.
Tumilson said the cases of Myocarditis that the CDC studied were not severe.
"The vast majority of them were able to recover with no treatment or very little treatment at all," Tumilson said. "Observation, make sure there wasn’t anything, they were taking simple medicines and they recovered well.”
Tumlison added that the cases of Myocarditis that were reported after people received the vaccine were from those who got the Moderna and Pfizer shot rather than the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.