In the last few months, many cases have been reported from various corners of the country regarding the multi-system inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) in children and adolescents who had received at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose. However, there is no need to panic, as a recent study published in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health journal has shown that these side effects post-vaccination is extremely rare.
The reporting rate of MIS-C for those without evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection was 0.3 cases per million vaccinated individuals, revealed the observational study published in The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health journal.
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The findings showed that the MIS-C case rate in vaccinated children and adolescents aged 12-20 in the US is substantially lower than previously published estimates in unvaccinated individuals aged 12-20 who had been infected with SARS-CoV-2 from April to June 2020. “Our results suggest that MIS-C cases following Covid-19 vaccination are rare and that the likelihood of developing MIS-C is much greater in children who are unvaccinated and get Covid-19,” said Dr Anna R. Yousaf, of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Vaccination is recommended for everyone aged 5 years and older in the US for the prevention of Covid-19. MIS-C, also known as a pediatric inflammatory multi-system syndrome (PIM-TS), is a rare condition associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection that was first recognised in April 2020.
It is thought to be an immune overreaction that occurs approximately two to six weeks after SARS-CoV-2 infection in children and adolescents. The symptoms include fever, rash, eye redness, and gastrointestinal symptoms (e.g., diarrhoea, stomach ache, nausea), and can lead to multi-organ failure.
In the study, the team examined 47 reports of potential MIS-C illness that occurred in a person aged 12-20 years at any time after a Covid-19 vaccine dose. Of these 47 reports, 21 fit the CDC MIS-C criteria. Out of the 21 cases of MIS-C, 15 had evidence of past or recent SARS-CoV-2 infection, while six did not.
The researchers stressed that they are unable to determine if vaccination contributed to the MIS-C illness in these rare cases. It is possible that some of the identified cases had other unrecognised inflammatory conditions that coincidentally occurred after vaccination, they noted.
