Two teenage boys who, separately, were found dead in their beds three and four days after taking their second doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine likely died from toxic myocarditis, according to a February 15 clinical and autopsy early release study in the Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine of the College of American Pathologists.
Two Teens Dead Days After Vaccination
One of the boys, who had a history of attention hyperactivity deficit disorder (ADHD), died after initially complaining about gastric distress and headaches. Shortly after reporting that he felt better, he was found dead in his bed. The other boy, who was reported to be obese, reported no symptoms before he was found dead in his bed.
Neither boy was known to be infected by the coronavirus.
Autopsies Determine Myocarditis Involved in Deaths
Autopsies were conducted by the Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME), and the Michigan Institute of Forensic Science and Medicine, which investigate suspected unnatural deaths in their respective jurisdictions.
Dr. James R. Gill, Chief Medical Examiner of the (OCME) determined that both boys suffered from toxic myocarditis. In addition, microscopic examination of tissue samples revealed findings that “are not the alterations seen with typical myocarditis.”
Connecticut Chief Examiner Speaks to TrialSite About Autopsy Findings
Gill, who is also an associate professor of clinical pathology at Yale School of Medicine, explained that the first boy had suffered a previously undiagnosed myocardial fibrosis, or heart tissue scarring, which may have led to his heart failure and death. This victim was known to have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder but was believed to be otherwise healthy. Gill reported that he was unable to definitively determine what caused the scarring. One theory is that it may have started with the initial vaccine dose and healed over time. Then the second dose may have worsened the condition.
The autopsy report also noted that the second boy, who was obese, had suffered from a previously undiagnosed cardiac hypertrophy, an adaptive response to pressure or volume stress that accompanies many forms of heart disease.
While hypertrophy and fibrosis were considered secondary contributors in their deaths, Gill is confident that acute myocardial injury was the primary factor.
Boys Suffered Heart Inflammation Not Found in Typical Myocarditis
Ultimately, Gill determined that toxic myocarditis was a factor in both deaths. His report stated that microscopic examination of tissue samples from the young victims “revealed features resembling a catecholamine-induced injury, not typical myocarditis pathology.”
Catecholamines such as adrenaline, norepinephrine, and dopamine help the body respond to fight-or-flight situations. But when there is a problematic relationship between catecholamines and cytokines they can result in “a feedback loop,” Gill said during an interview with TrialSite.
This loop can generate cytokine storms that cause excessive adrenal responses and, ultimately, damaging inflammation.
“The big thing is, you are seeing that area of heart muscle injury, which is separate from where the inflammation is,” Gill said of the victims. “Typically, with (viral) myocarditis, the inflammation is driving the damage to the muscle cells. In this case, we are seeing the damaged muscle cells driving some of the inflammation.”
Myocarditis is described by the United States Centers for Disease Control as inflammation of the heart muscle that is the result of an infection or “some other trigger.”
When triggered by COVID-19 vaccination, symptoms typically begin within a week of the second dose. These include chest pain, shortness of breath, and feelings of a fast-beating or pounding heart. According to the CDC, most patients with post-vaccine myocarditis “responded well to medicine and rest, and felt better quickly.”
The CDC recommends that children 5 and older receive the vaccine to avoid contracting SARS-CoV-2 and possibly severe complications including hospitalization and death from COVID-19. However, some doctors find cardiac complications in teens – which is normally an exceedingly rare occurrence – to be concerning when they are associated with COVID vaccinations.
Young people have a relatively low risk for severe COVID-19 illness and yet post-vaccination heart complications can be deadly. On the other hand, health authorities have claimed that long-term cases of COVID pose a considerable risk as well.
Gill’s co-authors included Dr. Randy Tashjian of the Wayne County Medical Examiners’ Office in Detroit and the Department of Pathology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Emily Duncanson of the Jesse E. Edwards Registry of Cardiovascular Disease in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Gill: Doctors Should Track At-Risk Groups More Closely After Vaccination
Gill said he hopes his study will prompt clinicians to track post-vaccination periods in children more closely.
“At this point, it’s kind of now in the clinicians’ hands to see, would this change any of their thought-processes?” Gill said. He suggested that doctors could order different types of blood tests and monitor changes more closely following vaccination for this at-risk group.