US Military Confirms Myocarditis Spike After COVID Vaccine Introduction
Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times
Cases of myocarditis soared among U.S. service members in 2021 after the COVID-19 vaccines were rolled out, a top Pentagon official has confirmed.
There were 275 cases of myocarditis in 2021—a 151 per cent spike from the annual average from 2016 to 2020, according to Gilbert Cisneros Jr., undersecretary of defence for personnel and readiness, who confirmed data revealed by a whistleblower earlier this year.
The COVID-19 vaccines can cause myocarditis, a form of heart inflammation that can lead to mortality, including sudden death. COVID-19 also can cause myocarditis. The diagnosis data comes from the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database.
Mr Cisneros provided the rate of cases per 100,000 person-years, a way to measure risk across a certain period. In 2021, the rate was 69.8 among those with prior infection, compared to 21.7 among members who had been vaccinated. “This suggests that it was more likely to be [COVID-19] infection and not COVID-19 vaccination that was the cause,” Mr Cisneros said.
No figures were given for members who had been vaccinated but were also infected. The total rate, 20.6, also indicates that some members weren’t included in the subgroup analysis.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who has been investigating problems with the database, questioned how the military came up with the figures.
“It is unclear whether or how it accounted for service members who had a prior COVID-19 infection and received a COVID-19 vaccination,” Mr Johnson wrote to Mr Cisneros. Department of Defense (DOD) officials didn’t respond to a request for comment. Mr Johnson asked for the information no later than Aug. 2.
Dr Peter McCullough, a cardiologist and president of the McCullough Foundation, looked at the newly disclosed data. “The large increase in myocarditis cases in our military in 2021 was most likely due to ill-advised COVID-19 vaccination,” he told sources via email, pointing to a study from Israel that found no increase or myocarditis in COVID-19 patients.
Some other papers have found COVID-19 vaccines increase the risk of myocarditis. COVID-19 has been linked elsewhere to myocarditis, although the vaccines have never prevented infection and have become increasingly ineffective against it.
The military encouraged COVID-19 vaccination after U.S. regulators cleared the vaccines for use in late 2020. Military officials were among the first in the world to raise concerns about myocarditis after vaccination and published an early case series of 22 previously healthy members who suffered myocarditis within four days of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. U.S. officials have since said the vaccines definitely cause myocarditis.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin mandated the vaccines in 2021, a requirement that remained in place until Congress forced its withdrawal.
