US: A Comprehensive Timeline of COVID-19 Vaccines and Myocarditis
Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times
Sept. 22, 2020: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identifies myocarditis as an adverse event of special interest, or a potential side effect. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identifies myocarditis as an adverse event of special interest, or a potential side effect.
Oct. 30, 2020: U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) identifies myocarditis as an adverse event of special interest.
December 2020: One case of pericarditis reported to the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), which is co-managed by the CDC and FDA.
Dec. 11, 2020: FDA authorizes the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for Americans 16 and older.
Dec. 13, 2020: CDC launches V-safe, a new vaccine safety monitoring system, without including myocarditis as an option in the adverse events list.
Dec. 18, 2020: FDA authorizes the U.S. government-backed Moderna vaccine for Americans 18 and older.
2021
2021: Myocarditis cases spike in the U.S. military.
January 2021: 28 cases of myocarditis, pericarditis, or myopericarditis reported to VAERS.
January 2021: First U.S. military member experiences postvaccination myocarditis, according to a study published months later.
January 2021: First cases of postvaccination myocarditis recorded in Israel.
January 2021: VAERS report processing is delayed due to unexpected spike in reports.
February 2021: 64 cases of myocarditis, pericarditis, or myopericarditis reported to VAERS, including two deaths.
Feb. 1, 2021: Israeli teenager is hospitalized with myocarditis after Pfizer vaccination, doctors say.
Feb. 18, 2021: Safety signal for myocarditis triggered in VAERS using CDC-endorsed method called Proportional Reporting Ratio.
Feb. 19, 2021: Safety signal for myocarditis triggered in VAERS using another method called Fisher’s Exact Test.
Feb. 24–25, 2021: CDC meets with its advisers but does not discuss COVID-19 vaccines.
Feb. 27, 2021: FDA authorizes Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine.
Feb. 28, 2021: Israeli officials privately alert CDC to “a large number of reports of myocarditis, particularly in young people, following the administration of the Pfizer vaccine.”
Feb. 28, 2021: 57 cases of myocarditis or pericarditis within seven days of vaccination in Pfizer’s database in document given to the FDA in April 2021 and not revealed to the public until November 2021.
March 2021: 54 cases of myocarditis, pericarditis, or myopericarditis reported to VAERS.
March 1, 2021: CDC officials disclose (pdf) that two postvaccination cases were identified in the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD), another CDC-run system.
March 2, 2021: CDC recommends Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine for adults.
March 3, 2021: Israeli authorities meet with hospital officials to discuss postvaccination heart problems.
March 4, 2021: Israeli officials confirm they’re investigating postvaccination pericarditis.
March 5, 2021: FDA holds meeting with its advisers. Myocarditis is not discussed.
March 6, 2021: Rutgers University becomes first major US school to announce COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
March 8, 2021: Australian health officials contact CDC about U.S. myocarditis cases.
March 9, 2021: U.S. internal memorandum says Israel received around 40 reports of postvaccination myocarditis. U.S. officials say some postvaccination cases were reported in the United States and acknowledge issues with passive surveillance such as underreporting. “Thus, FDA has not made a final determination regarding the causality between myopericarditis and the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines,” the memo stated.
March 20, 2021: First postvaccination myocarditis case report is published in the literature.
March 20, 2021: Pfizer contract with South Africa (pdf) says that “there may be adverse effects of the vaccine that are not currently known.”
March 31, 2021: Second postvaccination myocarditis case report published.
March 31, 2021: First death from postvaccination myocarditis reported in Israel. The deceased was a 22-year-old previously healthy woman.
April 2021: 158 cases of myocarditis, pericarditis, or myopericarditis reported to VAERS.
April 2021: CDC holds multiple public meetings with no discussion of myocarditis.
April 1, 2021: Israel has received 84 reports of postvaccination myocarditis or pericarditis, news outlet reports.
April 2, 2021: U.S. military officials, CDC meet on postvaccination myocarditis cases.
April 5, 2021: Israeli officials brief the CDC on postvaccination myocarditis cases.
April 5, 2021: Canada reports first case of postvaccination pericarditis.
April 7, 2021: U.S. government call covers myocarditis cases recorded in military members after vaccination.
April 10, 2021: CDC-funded Clinical Immunization Safety Assessment program reviewed postvaccination myocarditis cases, email shows.
April 12, 2021: U.S. military officials brief CDC on postvaccination myocarditis cases.
April 12, 2021: Canada reports first case of postvaccination myocarditis.
April 13, 2021: U.S. military has submitted manuscripts on myocarditis cases to two journals, CDC official says.
April 13, 2021: CDC, FDA advise pause in administration of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine due to six cases of blood clotting.
April 15, 2021: Two otherwise healthy adults hospitalized with chest pain and diagnosed with myocarditis after Moderna vaccination, CDC adviser tells agency.
April 17, 2021: CDC official tells adviser there have been reports of myocarditis after COVID-19 vaccination “but we aren’t observing any clear indication of a safety signal.”
April 20, 2021: Three cases of myocarditis after second Pfizer dose in Idaho, official tells CDC.
April 23, 2021: United States lifts recommended pause on Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine.
April 23, 2021: Israeli Ministry of Health report on postvaccination myocarditis identifies two deaths, Israeli media report. The second deceased was a previously healthy 35-year-old man. Among men aged 18 to 30, there is a one in 20,000 probability of developing myocarditis, the report found. “It seems that these events can be a signal of a possible connection to the vaccine,” the committee said. The findings were sent to the FDA.
April 26, 2021: U.S. military officials are tracking 14 cases of myocarditis following messenger RNA vaccination, Military.com reports.
April 26, 2021: CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky says CDC “aware of” cases in the military. She says “we have not seen any reports of those” and that “we have not seen a signal” in CDC databases.
April 27, 2021: CDC officials privately acknowledge that processing of VAERS reports is “taking longer than usual.”
April 27, 2021: CDC officials say 24 cases of myocarditis were identified in VSD.
April 27, 2021: U.S. military official warns that pausing administration of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines “will have an adverse impact on US/CA vaccination rates.”
April 28, 2021: France detects safety signal for postvaccination myocarditis.
April 28, 2021: CDC director receives notes from discussion with military on myocarditis cases.
April 29, 2021: First cases of pericarditis after COVID-19 vaccination reported in the literature.
April 30, 2021: FDA receives Pfizer report noting myocarditis cases in Pfizer’s database.
May 2021: 487 cases of myocarditis, pericarditis, or myopericarditis reported to VAERS, including four deaths.
May 2021: CDC forms a team to review medical records for reported cases of postvaccination myocarditis.
May 5, 2021: CDC meets with advisers but doesn’t discuss COVID-19 vaccines.
May 7, 2021: European Medicines Agency announces it has asked Pfizer for information on myocarditis after COVID-19 vaccination.
May 10, 2021: FDA authorizes Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 12 to 15. It does not mention myocarditis.
May 12, 2021: Myocarditis is not discussed during meeting on Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. Dr. Tom Shimabukuro, a CDC official, gives a presentation on blood clotting after Johnson & Johnson vaccination.
May 12, 2021: Dr. Walensky recommends Pfizer’s vaccine for virtually all children aged 12 to 15, based on advice from advisers.
May 13, 2021: CDC officials told to direct questions on potential myocarditis cases to two top vaccine safety officials, Drs. John Su and Shimabukuro.
May 13, 2021: Same officials discuss analyzing VAERS data for myocarditis using the Proportional Reporting Ratio in heavily redacted emails. The agency says the analysis didn’t actually start until 2022.
May 13, 2021: CDC adviser says “multiple people texting and email[ing] me with concerns” about myocarditis.
May 13, 2021: Children’s National in Washington registers two suspected cases.
May 14, 2021: Dr. Shimabukuro seeks “experts in myocarditis.”
May 16, 2021: CDC official says in email, “we are hearing quite a lot about this now, and I don’t have a clear understanding of what is and has been being done.”
May 17, 2021: CDC workgroup says there are “relatively few” reports of myocarditis after vaccination and that rates “have not differed from expected baseline rates.”
May 17, 2021: Dr. Shimabukuro speaks with American Academy of Pediatrics officials to “centralize our coordination” with outside groups.
May 17, 2021: Dr. Su says health care providers “aren’t reporting these cases to VAERS.”
May 17, 2021: Dr. Su says the “myocarditis thing” is “exploding.”
May 18, 2021: States across the U.S. publicly report cases of myocarditis following COVID-19 vaccination.
May 18, 2021: First case report of an American person with postvaccination myocarditis published.
May 19, 2021: CDC tells state officials it has been “closely monitoring” myocarditis and pericarditis after COVID-19 vaccination and that cases “can be serious.”
May 20, 2021: Three more cases of postvaccination myocarditis at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, official tells CDC.
May 20, 2021: CDC officials hold meeting with doctors from pediatric hospitals on myocarditis cases. Slides from the meeting were provided to The Epoch Times fully redacted.
May 23, 2021: The American Heart Association says the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination for everyone eligible “enormously outweigh the rare, possible risk of heart-related complications, including inflammation of the heart muscle.”
May 24, 2021: CDC workgroup acknowledges for the first time that the number of reports of postvaccination myocarditis to VAERS was higher than expected in those 16 to 24.
May 24, 2021: French Society of Cardiology calls for vaccinating heart failure patients without acknowledging possible vaccine-myocarditis connection.
May 24, 2021: Massachusetts official asks CDC for “messaging” on postvaccination myocarditis.
May 25, 2021: Dr. Paul Offit, an FDA adviser, says about myocarditis and COVID-19 vaccines, “there’s every reason to think this isn’t a problem.”
May 26, 2021: The New Zealand Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Authority says there’s a safety signal for myocarditis and COVID-19 vaccines.
May 28, 2021: CDC says to keep vaccinating everyone eligible, or virtually all Americans 12 and older.
May 28, 2021: Case series of young, previously healthy males hospitalized with postvaccination myocarditis discloses hospitalizations happened as early as Jan. 30, 2021.
May 28, 2021: CDC says it is focusing on reported cases among those 30 and under.
May 28, 2021: Nine postvaccination myocarditis cases from one state not reported to VAERS, according to CDC.
May 30, 2021: Brighton Collaboration issues case definition for myocarditis.
June 2021: 752 cases of myocarditis, pericarditis, or myopericarditis reported to VAERS, including five deaths.
June 2021: Some experts start calling on U.S. authorities to pause COVID-19 vaccination of young, healthy people.
June 2, 2021: Israel says “there is some probability for a possible link between the second vaccine dose and the onset of myocarditis among young men aged 16 to 30” after researchers find incidence of one in 3,000 to one in 6,000 men aged 16 to 24.
June 4, 2021: U.S. researchers report seven cases in healthy young males following Pfizer vaccination.
June 10, 2021: 99 cases of myocarditis/pericarditis detected in FDA’s Biologics Effectiveness and Safety Initiative database, and 1,260 cases reported in Medicare claims data, FDA official says (pdf).
June 10, 2021: CDC working to rapidly follow up on reports of myocarditis following vaccination among people aged 30 and under, CDC official says (pdf). Most cases are in young adults after a second dose.
