Summarised by Centrist
A team led by Dr Ana Blasco from Hospital Universitario Puerta de Hierro-Majadahonda in Madrid, Spain published a study in Vaccine suggesting that people who got vaccinated and then caught COVID might have a higher risk of heart failure.
While the vaccine alone isn’t thought to be causing major heart problems, getting both the shot and the infection could make things worse. This could possibly explain why heart attacks are still rising after vaccination.
The study analysed nearly 950 patients over three years and found that vaccinated individuals who also contracted COVID had a 50% higher chance of severe heart failure or death compared to unvaccinated patients. For those with severe heart attacks, the risk of life-threatening complications was 90% higher.
These patients had 2.63 times the risk of complications compared to unvaccinated individuals. This indicates that the combination of the vaccine and natural immunity may lead to worse heart issues in some.
However, the study found no strong evidence that vaccination alone caused worse outcomes for all heart attack patients. While there was an increased risk for those with both the vaccine and prior infection, vaccinated individuals overall did not show a significant rise in major adverse heart events compared to unvaccinated ones.
Researchers noted, “a higher incidence of 6-month MACE [major adverse cardiac events] was not demonstrated”, meaning vaccination alone wasn’t linked to worse recovery. The study also showed that patients with both vaccination and prior infection had higher antibody levels, which might explain the more severe heart complications in this group.
