Norway’s FHI comments on Swedish Moderna decision: “Young men should consider taking the Pfizer vaccine”

Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB

The FHI encourages boys and young men under 30 to take the Pfizer vaccine instead of the Moderna vaccine due to an increased risk of a rare side effect with Moderna.

Myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) is a rare side effect of mRNA vaccines. The side effect is seen especially in boys and young men – mainly after the second dose.

In a press release, the FHI writes that updated data indicates that this occurs more often with Moderna’s vaccine than with the Pfizer vaccine.

“This seems to apply regardless of which mRNA vaccine was given as the first dose,” the FHI believes.

FHI’s recommendation

Geir Bukholm, Director of Infection Control at FHI, once again emphasizes the recommendation that young people under the age of 18 be vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine Comirnaty, regardless of which mRNA vaccine they received as the first dose.

“Men under the age of 30 should also consider choosing Comirnaty when they are to be vaccinated,” Bukholm said.

Analyzes of reported adverse reactions from the United States have suggested that myocarditis may be more frequent when using Moderna’s vaccine as the second dose than with the Pfizer vaccine – but the numbers are small and therefore uncertain.

New data

“New monitoring data from Ontario, Canada, confirm that this observation is correct, and preliminary monitoring data from Norway, Sweden, and other countries may indicate the same,” the FHI noted.

At the same time, they emphasized that the side effect is rare and that most people who have been affected by it have had relatively mild symptoms.

On Wednesday, Sweden temporarily halted the vaccination with Moderna vaccines of persons born in 1991 and later.

Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews

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