Health professionals and researchers continue to closely monitor the risk of myocarditis among children who have been vaccinated or have contracted COVID-19. Recent research has found interesting evidence that suggests children who become sick with COVID-19 have a higher risk of developing myocarditis compared to those who are vaccinated.
- Children who had a natural infection of COVID-19 have a risk ratio of 18.3 in developing myocarditis, compared to a 3.2 risk ratio after vaccination.
Additionally, one study looked at 1 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine delivered to adolescents ages 12-17. They found:
- 8 cases of myocarditis in females
- 73 cases of myocarditis in males
However, those vaccines also:
- Prevented more than 134,000 cases of COVID-19
- Prevented more than 1,000 hospitalizations due to COVID-19
- Prevented 270 ICU admissions
- Prevented 8 deaths