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Letter
COVID-19 mRNA vaccination and myocarditis/pericarditis in the setting of active surveillance at a military treatment facility
  1. Richelle L Homo1,2,
  2. D J Colby3,4,
  3. M L Romo3,4,
  4. S Moreland3,4,
  5. H Follen2,
  6. B Hernandez2,
  7. D Robinson2,
  8. K Liesemer2,
  9. M Paudel3,4,
  10. T A Crowell3,4,
  11. A Martin2,
  12. I F Armendi2,
  13. E Martinez-Bucki1,2,
  14. J Bay2,
  15. P Faestel2 and
  16. R Sainato2
  1. 1Pediatrics, Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, USA
  2. 2Pediatrics, Madigan Army Medical Center, Tacoma, Washington, USA
  3. 3U.S. Military HIV Research Program, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA
  4. 4Global Infectious Diseases, Henry M Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Rockville, Maryland, USA
  1. Correspondence to Richelle L Homo, Brooke Army Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, TX 78234, USA; richellelh{at}gmail.com

https://doi.org/10.1136/military-2023-002599

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    The COVID-19 pandemic exposed significant vulnerabilities in pandemic preparedness, but also ushered in an auspicious era for mRNA vaccines. The unique adaptability of mRNA vaccines makes them promising tools for addressing both infectious and non-infectious diseases, including cancers.1 Therefore, it is critical to understand any potential adverse effects of this technology.

     COVID-19 mRNA vaccinations have been associated with an increased risk of myocarditis/pericarditis, though the magnitude and severity of complications are much lower than those caused by a SARS-CoV-2 infection.2 Data collected on the Vaccine Safety Datalink since December 2020 show that the incidence of symptomatic myocarditis/pericarditis is highest among young adult males.3 This is the same demographic that predominates the US active-duty service member population. Between January and April 2021, at least 22 active-duty US military members presented with acute chest pain following receipt of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine and had significantly elevated cardiac troponin levels, …

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors RRLH—methodology, resources and writing (original draft). DJC—conceptualisation, methodology, investigation, resources, writing (original draft), supervision, project administration and funding acquisition. MLR—resources, data curation and writing (review and editing). SM—formal analysis, investigation and data curation. HF—investigation, resources, data curation and project administration. BH—investigation and data curation. DR—investigation and supervision. KL—methodology, investigation and supervision. MP—formal analysis. TAC—conceptualisation, methodology, writing (review and editing) and funding acquisition. AM—investigation and writing (review and editing). IFA—investigation and writing (review and editing). EM-B—investigation and writing (review and editing). JB—methodology and supervision. PF—methodology and supervision. RS—conceptualisation, methodology, investigation, resources, writing (original draft), supervision, project administration and funding acquisition.

    • Funding This work was supported by a grant from the Defense Health Agency (DHA), Immunization Healthcare Division (IHD) with grant/award number: IHB-21-017. Walter Reed Army Institute of Research’s engagement is funded by the DHA IHD through the Henry M Jackson Foundation Cooperative Agreement (W81XWH-18-2-0040).

    • Disclaimer The views expressed here are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the DHA, Brooke Army Medical Center, Madigan Army Medical Center, the Department of Defense, nor any agencies under the US Government.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.