Young men vaccinated with Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine have a higher risk of developing myocarditis than other vaccines, but have fewer breakthrough infections, the company said.
Moderna's chief medical officer, Paul Burton, told reporters in a telephone conversation with a reporter that the Moderna vaccine had a higher number of cases of myocarditis, a rare side effect of the coronavirus vaccine, than the Pfizer vaccine among men under the age of 30, CNBC reported.
Moderna and Pfizer are both mRNA-based vaccines.
According to France's statistics cited by Burton, among men aged 12 to 29, there were 13.3 cases of myocarditis per 100,000 people vaccinated with Moderna, compared to 2.7 cases per 100,000 people at Pfizer.
Europe has approved Moderna vaccine for adolescents since July, but Nordic countries such as Finland and Sweden have stopped immunization for men under the age of 30 due to the risk of myocarditis.
But Burton, citing statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, emphasized that Moderna vaccines had a lower breakthrough infection rate than Pfizer or Janssen vaccines.
In addition, there has been no case of myocarditis among those who received the booster shot, whose dose was reduced by half compared to the first inoculation, and the company plans to continue monitoring in the future.
(Photo = Yonhap News)