By Sola Ogundipe

The US Food and Drug Administration, and FDA, has included a warning of a rare risk of heart inflammation to the patient and provider fact sheets for the Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines.

For each vaccine, the fact sheets were revised to include a warning about myocarditis and pericarditis after the second dose and with the onset of symptoms within a few days after receiving the shot.

However health officials insist that the benefits of receiving the vaccines still outweigh any risk. There have been 12.6 heart inflammation cases per million doses for both vaccines combined.

Myocarditis is the inflammation of the heart muscle while pericarditis is the inflammation of the tissue surrounding the heart.

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In a statement, acting FDA commissioner, Janet Woodcock,  said “The risk of myocarditis and pericarditis appears to be very low given the number of vaccine doses that have been administered.

“The benefits of Covid-19 vaccination continue to outweigh the risks, given the risk of Covid-19 diseases and related, potentially severe, complications,” she said.

The FDA update follows a review and discussion by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meeting last week.

There have been more than 1,200 cases of a myocarditis or pericarditis mostly in people 30 and under who received the shots, according to the CDC.

About 300 million shots had been administered as of June 11, according to the CDC. There have been just 12.6 heart inflammation cases per million doses for both vaccines combined.

Vanguard News Nigeria