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According to Reuters, France’s health authorities recently advised people under 30-years-old against receiving the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine saying it carried comparatively higher risks of heart-related problems.
The Haute Autorite de Sante (HAS), which is an advisory for the French health sector but is outside of legal power to ban or license, said that there are “very rare” risks linked to Myocarditis, a heart disease, which had appeared in recent data on the Moderna vaccine and in a French research study published on November 8.
“Within the population aged under 30, this risk appears to be around five times lesser with Pfizer’s Comirnaty jab compared to Moderna’s Spikevax jab,” HAS said the study published on Monday.
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Last month, the European Union’s drug regulator, EMA, approved Moderna’s booster vaccine for all ages over 18, after at least six months from the second dose.
Earlier this year, the EMA reported that it had found a possible connection between the very rare condition that causes the heart to be inflamed and COVID-19 vaccines from and Moderna’s vaccines and Pfizer’s.
However, according to the EMA, the regulator reported that the benefits of either of the mRNA shots in preventing COVID-19 are continuing to outweigh the risks, which is the same perspective observed and expressed by U.S. regulators and the World Health Organization.
France’s HAS said that this recommendation of taking the Pfizer over the Moderna vaccine, which is applicable regardless of the vaccine’s use as a first, second or third “booster” dose, is a valid finding until other scientific updates on the matter are discovered over time.
However, for people over the age of 30, the authority clearly stated the recommended use of the Moderna vaccine, adding that its effectiveness was somewhat higher than that of Pfizer.