Boston Children’s hospital warns Pfizer vaccine may pose a greater risk to boys than previously thought

The MRNA Gene Therapy issued via Pfizer’s Covid vaccine may pose more of a risk to boys a study from a top Boston Children’s Hospital has revealed.

New research has suggested boys are 14 times more likely to be struck down with a rare heart complication called myocarditis.

Last week, the Government’s advisory panel ruled older teenagers should be given their first dose. Ministers plan to invite them before they head back to schools and colleges in September.

Health officials have yet to make concrete plans for children to get top-ups. They want to wait for more safety data about myocarditis before pressing ahead.

Real-world data from the US, which has been vaccinating children for months, have shown teenage boys to be at a higher risk.

It prompted one member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, which green-lighted the move to jab children, to admit different advice for boys was ‘theoretically on the cards’.

Doctors at Boston Children’s Hospital said 14 of the 15 children admitted with myocarditis after getting a Pfizer jab were boys, suggesting the risk they face is much higher

Myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart muscle. There are no specific causes of the condition but it is usually triggered by a virus.

Some of the most common infections which cause myocarditis, are those called adenovirus and Coxsackie B.

It can be caused by the common cold, hepatitis B and C, and herpes simplex virus.

The most common symptoms of the condition include chest pain, a fever, a fast heartbeat, tiredness and shortness of breath.

If the inflammation damages the heart muscle or the fibres that conduct electrical pulses to the heart, complications can develop.

They can develop quickly, and include sudden loss of consciousness, an abnormally fast, slow or irregular heartbeat.

In very severe cases the condition is fatal, causing heart failure or sudden death. The inflammation enlarges the heart and creates scar tissue, forcing it to work harder and therefore making it weaker.

But doctors at Boston Children’s Hospital cautioned that the long-term risks of post-vaccination myocarditis ‘remain unknown’.