Nordic countries restrict use of Moderna’s Covid vaccine

Finland, Denmark and Sweden are restricting the use of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine in young people due to concerns about rare cardiovascular side effects.

The Finnish national health authority, THL, announced Thursday that it will suspend the use of Moderna’s Covid vaccine in young men. All men aged 30 or under would be offered the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine instead, THL said.

THL’s move follows announcements by its Swedish and Danish counterparts on Wednesday that the two will restrict the use of the Moderna vaccine in similar demographics.

In Sweden, the use of the vaccine will be stopped in people born in 1991 or later, while Denmark will stop the use of the Moderna vaccine in all people under the age of 18.

The decision the three countries have made to limit the use of the Moderna vaccine is based on concerns that it could be linked to cases of myocarditis, a condition in which the heart muscle becomes inflamed. The three health authorities cited an unpublished Nordic study that had been sent to the European Medicines Agency for evaluation, according to Reuters.

In most cases, people with myocarditis recover without complications, but in rare and more serious cases, the heart can be damaged.

According to the Finnish THL, myocarditis was more likely to develop in younger men and boys after receiving their second dose of the Moderna vaccine.

Speaking at a coronavirus press briefing on Thursday, Mika Salminen, director of health security at THL, said the possible risks posed by the Moderna vaccine appeared to be greater for young men.

“The instructions from THL are that the Moderna vaccine should not be given to men and boys under the age of 30 at this time, but that the Pfizer vaccine should be used instead,” he said, according to local media.

Finland offers vaccination against Covid-19 to anyone over the age of 12. Of the population eligible for vaccination in Finland, 84% received their first dose and 72% received two doses.

The Swedish health body, meanwhile, said data suggested cases of myocarditis and pericarditis – an inflammation of the outer wall of the heart – were higher in young people who had been immunized, Reuters reported on Wednesday. .

A Moderna spokesperson was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC. The company told Reuters that these were “generally mild cases and individuals tend to recover quickly after standard treatment and rest.”

“The risk of myocarditis is greatly increased for those who contract COVID-19, and vaccination is the best way to protect yourself from it,” the spokesperson added.

Despite the risks associated with vaccination for young men, THL’s Salminen said on Thursday that it was still important for anyone who was eligible to receive two doses of a vaccine.

According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the known risks of Covid-19 and its potentially serious complications far outweigh the potential risks of having a rare adverse reaction to a vaccination. This includes the possible risk of developing myocarditis.

In August, a US study found that men aged 12 to 17 – the population most likely to develop myocarditis – were six times more likely to suffer from heart inflammation from being infected with Covid-19 than they were. ” be vaccinated against the virus.

After a second dose of a vaccine, there were 67 cases of myocarditis per million men in this age group. After contracting the coronavirus, the rate of myocarditis in this age group reached 450 cases per million, according to the study.

Meanwhile, research from Imperial College London in March found that half of patients hospitalized with severe cases of Covid ended up with heart damage.

According to the US CDC, most cases of post-vaccination myocarditis occur after a second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine in adolescents and young adults. Symptoms, which include chest pain or tightness, shortness of breath, and heart palpitations, usually occur within days of vaccination.