CDC Report: Vaccine Benefits Far Outweigh Side-Effect Risks

By Nicholas Gerbis
Published: Friday, August 13, 2021 - 2:40pm
Updated: Saturday, August 14, 2021 - 10:04am
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The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has continued to recommend the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines despite rare follow-on cases of a type of heart inflammation called myocarditis.

In its latest report, the group reiterates that decision and finds the benefits of using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, too, outweigh the risks of its rare side effects.

In mid-April, the CDC and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration instituted a 10-day pause in the use of Johnson & Johnson's one-shot viral vector vaccine after some recipients reported serious blood clots, or thromboses, and low levels of blood platelets.

Reports also linked the rare autoimmune neurological disorder Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) to that vaccine. GBS causes weakness and paralysis. Although most patients recover, the disease can require intensive care and ventilator support, and in some cases causes permanent paralysis or death.

The FDA has added information about these serious adverse events to the vaccine's Emergency Use Authorization fact sheets.

But the committee finds the risks of not getting vaccinated far outweigh the risks of experiencing such side effects.

For example, every million Johnson & Johnson doses given to males ages 50–64 can prevent 1,800 hospitalizations, 480 ICU admissions and 140 deaths from COVID-19, compared to just 14–17 GBS cases and 1–2 cases of thrombosis.

So far, doctors have seen no crossover between the two vaccine types and their associated side effects: Pfizer and Moderna do not appear to be linked to GBS or thromboses, and experts have seen no increased risk for myocarditis among Johnson & Johnson recipients.

Currently, Pfizer is recommended for people ages 12 and older, while Moderna and Johnson & Johnson are appropriate for adults 18 and older.

As of July 22, 2021, 187 million people in the U.S. have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Serious adverse events remain rare.

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