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This fact brief was originally published as an experiment to test the concepts behind fact briefs.

Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of useful information in fact briefs like this one, not all of them reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

FACT BRIEF

Has the CDC warned that young people should not get a COVID-19 vaccination because of heart-inflammation risks?

Friday, June 25, 2021

By Lisa Freedland

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The Centers for Disease Control continues to recommend COVID-19 vaccinations for all adolescents and young people as “potential benefits outweigh the potential risks,” even after scattered preliminary reports of heart inflammation with a few days of getting the shot.

“These reports are rare, given the hundreds of millions of vaccine doses administered,” the agency says. As of June 21, 2021, the CDC says it has confirmed 393 cases of myocarditis or pericarditis in people, mostly male, aged 30 or younger (out of 616 reports). It is working to confirm if there is any relationship to the vaccines.

The CDC has stated that patients who develop heart inflammation following vaccinations generally experience a full recovery.

The Food and Drug Administration plans to add a warning about the rare risk of heart inflammation to the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccine fact sheets.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

Centers for Disease Control Myocarditis and pericarditis following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination

Centers for Disease Control Selected adverse events reported after COVID-19 vaccination

Centers for Disease Control COVID-19 vaccine safety updates (June 23, 2021)

Reuters FDA to add warning about rare heart inflammation to Pfizer, Moderna vaccines

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Gigafact

Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

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Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.