Is it acceptable that 60% of young people with vaccine-induced myocarditis have cardiac damage?
Open letter to the Chief Medical Officers of the 4 nations of the UK
Professor Sir Chris Whitty – CMO England: Email [email protected]
Sir Michael McBride – CMO Northern Ireland: [email protected]
Sir Gregor Smith – CMO Scotland: [email protected]
Sir Frank Atherton – CMO Wales: [email protected]
30th September 2024
Dear Professor Whitty, Dr McBride, Dr Smith and Dr Atherton,
Sixty doctors and scientists wrote to you on 6th September 2021 urging you against rolling out Covid-19 vaccines to healthy children. We had written previously to Professor Whitty in May and again in June of that year to flag up our concerns. As you know, the JCVI in their statement on 3rd September 2021, had decided against recommending these products for children’s direct benefit in view of the mild nature of SARS-CoV-2 infection for their age range coupled with concerns about the known and as yet unknown adverse effects.
They had held a conference call with cardiologists from the USA and also Israel, both countries which had started vaccinating children ahead of the UK. These groups had both reported on vaccine-induced-myocarditis, with the US group having studied a case series of 63 children and finding 89% of affected children showing Late Gadolinium Enhancement (LGE) on cardiac MRI scanning. This finding is known to be indicative of cardiac scarring and to be a predictor of deaths in the 5-years following viral myocarditis. The american group were planning a follow-up study and members of the JCVI specifically requested a delay of 6 months to await this data before making a decision.
Finally, almost 3 years later, this study has been published and it does not make for happy reading, especially if you are a parent of a child or young person who was affected. Of the 333 children and young adults enrolled, and despite an apparently mild clinical course, 82% showed LGE on their initial cardiac MRI scans, and in 60% these changes were still present at the 6 months follow-up scan. Long-term data is still awaited and risks of cardiac failure or sudden death are still unquantified. A new systematic review has confirmed that LGE is a risk factor for all cause mortality, cardiac deaths, arrhythmias and heart failure.
This letter is to put on record the failure of due diligence which you, as a group of chief medical officers, showed when recommending these products for use in healthy children. “The view of the UK CMOs is that the additional likely benefits of reducing educational disruption, and the consequent reduction in public health harm from educational disruption, on balance provide sufficient extra advantage in addition to the marginal advantage at an individual level identified by the JCVI to recommend in favour of vaccinating this group.” The argument that vaccinating children would reduce school disruption seemed to ignore the fact that most of the disruption was arising from the combined policy of (a) routine testing of asymptomatic children and (b) the quarantining of whole classes or in some cases even whole year groups if one child tested positive. In England, this policy had been discontinued on 19 July 2021 just 2 days before the end of the summer term and with no time to assess the likely improvement in school attendance. It was also admitted that the calculations of possible school time saved were not balanced against any potential for school time lost, even for the vaccination process itself, let alone any possible adverse events.
When you advised the rollout of the vaccines to children, did you also advise a prospective study of cardiac health to be carried out in any of the four nations?
If the answer is yes, we would be very grateful to see the results.
If the answer is no, this surely should be organised as a matter of urgency.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Rosamond Jones, MBBS, MD, FRCPCH, retired consultant paediatrician, convenor of Children’s Covid Vaccines Advisory Council
Professor Anthony J Brookes, Department of Genetics & Genome Biology, University of Leicester
Prof Anthony Fryer, PhD, FRCPath, Professor of Clinical Biochemistry, Keele University
Professor David Livermore, BSc, PhD, Professorial Fellow/Retired Professor of Medical Microbiology, University of East Anglia (not dave & aseem)
Professor John Fairclough FRCS FFSEM retired Honorary Consultant Surgeon
Professor John Watkins, Consultant Epidemiologist Cardiff University
Professor Karol Sikora, MA, MBBChir, PhD, FRCR, FRCP, FFPM, Professor of Oncology and Medical Director, Cancer Partners International
Professor Keith Willison, PhD, Professor of Chemical Biology, Imperial, London
Professor Norman Fenton, CEng, CMath, PhD, FBCS, MIET, Professor of Risk Information Management, Queen Mary University of London
Professor Richard Ennos, MA, PhD. Honorary Professorial Fellow, University of Edinburgh
Professor Roger Watson, FRCP Edin, FRCN, FAAN, Honorary Professor of Nursing, University of Hull
Lord Moonie, MBChB, MRCPsych, MFCM, MSc, House of Lords, former parliamentary Under-secretary of State 2001-2003, former consultant in Public Health Medicine
Dr Roland Salmon, MB BS, MRCGP, FFPH, Consultant Epidemiologist (retired), former Director, Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre (Wales)
Dr Alan Mordue, MBChB, FFPH. Retired Consultant in Public Health Medicine & Epidemiology
Dr John Flack, BPharm, PhD. Retired Director of Safety Evaluation, Beecham Pharmaceuticals 1980-1989 and Senior Vice-president for Drug Discovery 1990-92 SmithKline Beecham
Dr Theresa Lawrie, MBBCh, PhD, Director, Evidence-Based Medicine Consultancy Ltd, Bath
Dr Gerry Quinn, PhD. Postdoctoral researcher in microbiology and immunology
Dr Karen Horridge, MBChB (Hons), MSc, MRCP, FRCPCH, Consultant Paediatrician (Disability)
Mr Anthony Hinton, MBChB, FRCS, Consultant ENT surgeon, London
Dr Geoffrey Maidment, MBBS, MD, FRCP, retired consultant physician
Mr Malcolm Loudon, MBChB, MD, FRCSEd, FRCS (Gen Surg), MIHM,VR, Consultant Surgeon
Dr Christina Peers, MBBS, DRCOG,DFSRH,FFSRH, Consultant in Reproductive Health
Dr Noel Thomas, MA, MBChB, DCH, DObsRCOG, DTM&H, MFHom, retired doctor
Dr Elizabeth Evans MA(Cantab), MBBS, DRCOG, Retired Doctor
Dr Greta Mushet, MBChB, MRCPsych, retired Consultant Psychiatrist in Psychotherapy
Mr James Royle, MBChB, FRCS, MMedEd, Colorectal surgeon
Mr Ian F Comaish, MA, BM BCh, FRCOphth, FRANZCO, Consultant ophthalmologist
Dr Helen Westwood MBChB MRCGP DCH DRCOG, General Practitioner
Dr Jonathan Engler, MBChB, LlB (hons), DipPharmMed
Dr Renée Hoenderkamp, General Practitioner
Mr Colin Natali, BSc(hons) MBBS, FRCS (orth) ,Consultant Spinal Surgeon
Dr Alan Black, MBBS, MSc, DipPharmMed, retired pharmaceutical physician
Dr Mark A Bell, MBChB, MRCP(UK), FRCEM, Consultant in Emergency Medicine
Dr Livia Tossici-Bolt, PhD, NHS Clinical Scientist
Dr Zac Cox, BDS, LCPH, Holistic Dentist, Homeopath
Dr Sam McBride, BSc(Hons) Medical Microbiology & Immunobiology, MBBCh BAO, MSc in Clinical Gerontology, MRCP(UK), FRCEM (2002), FRCP(Edinburgh), NHS Emergency Medicine & Geriatrics
Dr Branko Latinkic, BSc, PhD, Reader in Biosciences
Dr Kulvinder Singh Manik, MBBS, General Practitioner
Dr Michael D Bell, MBChB, MRCGP, retired General Practitioner
Dr Jason Lester, MRCP, FRCR, Consultant Clinical Oncologist, Rutherford Cancer Centre, Newport
Dr Clare Craig, BMBCh, FRCPath, Pathologist
Dr Scott McLachan, FAIDH, MCSE, MCT, DSysEng, LLM, MPhil, Postdoctoral researcher, Risk & Information Group
Dr Franziska Meuschel, MD, ND, PhD, LFHom, BSEM, Nutritional, Environmental and Integrated Medicine
Dr Emma Brierly, MRCGP, General Practitioner
Dr Sarah Myhill, MBBS, Dip NM, Retired GP, Independent Naturopathic Physician
Michael Cockayne, MSc, PGDip, SCPHNOH, BA, RN, Occupational health practitioner
Dr Christopher Exley, PhD, FRSB, retired Professor in Bioinorganic Chemistry
Julie Annakin, RN, Immunisation specialist nurse
Dr Charles Forsyth, MBBS, BSEM, Independent Medical Practitioner
Dr Marco Chiesa, MD, FRCPsych, Consultant Psychiatrist & Visiting Professor, UCL
Dr Paul Cuddon, PhD, Pharmaceutical Equity Research Analyst, Head of Healthcare and Life Sciences
Margaret Moss, MA (Cantab), CBiol, MRSB, Director, The Nutrition and Allergy Clinic, Cheshire
Dr David Critchley, BSc, PhD, 32 years in pharmaceutical R&D as a clinical research scientist.
Dr David Morris, MBChB, MRCP(UK), General Practitioner
Dr Scott Mitchell, MBChB, MRCS, Associate Specialist in Emergency Medicine
Dr Pauline Jones, MB BS, retired General Practitioner
Sarah Waters, BA (Hons), MBACP, Psychotherapist, Therapeutic Parenting Practitioner
Dr. Eashwarran Kohilathas, BMBS, Functional Medicine Practitioner
Dr Rohaan Seth, BSc (hons), MBChB (hons), MRCGP General Practitioner
Dr Jessica Robinson, BSc (Hons), MBBS, MRCPsych, MFHom, Psychiatrist & Integrative Medicine
Dr Dee Marshall, MBBS, MFHom, Nutritional Medicine
Dr Jenny Goodman, MA, MB ChB, Ecological Medicine
Dr Elizabeth Burton, MBChB, retired general practitioner
Dr Sam White, MBChB, MRCGP, Functional medicine practitioner
Dr Rachel Nicoll, PhD, Medical researcher
Dr Ruth Wilde, MB BCh, MRCEM, AFMCP, Integrative & Functional Medicine Doctor
Dr Andrew Isaac, MB BCh, Physician, retired
Angela Chamberlain, Bsc (Hons), Midwifery
Jemma Dale, BSc (Hons), Biomedical Scientist
Dr Damien Downing, MBBS, MRSB, private physician
Dr David Bramble, MD, MRCPsych, Consultant Psychiatrist, Child & Adolescent Learning Disability (Retired)
Dr Abby Astle, MBBChir, BA(Cantab), DCH, DGM, MRCGP, GP Principal, GP Trainer, GP Examiner
Dr Alistair J Montgomery, MBChB, MRCGP, DRCOG, retired General Practitioner
Dr Ancha Bala-Joof, BSc, MBChB, MRCGP, General Practitioner
Dr Ayiesha Malik, MBChB, MRCGP(2014), General Practitioner
Dr Christine Dewbury, MBBS, retired General Practitioner
Dr Lucie Wilk, MD, MRCP, Rheumatologist
Dr Ali Haggett, PhD, Mental health community work, former lecturer in the history of medicine
Helen Auburn, Dip ION, MBANT, CNHC, Registered Nutritional Therapist
Katherine MacGilchrist, BSc(Hons), MSc(Epidemiology), former CEO/Systematic Review Director, Epidemica Ltd
Dr Gillian Breese, BSc, MB ChB, DFFP, DTM&H, General Practitioner
Dr Keith Dewbury, MBBS, FRCR, retired Consultant Radiologist
Dr Janet Menage, MA, MBChB, retired General Practitioner
Dr Jayne LM Donegan, MBBS, DRCOG, DCH, DFFP, MRCGP, Naturopathic Practitioner
Dr Nick Flatt, BMSc(Hons), MBChB, FRCSEd, FRCA, FFPMRCA, retired Consultant Anaesthetist
Dr S McBride, BSc(Hons) Medical Microbiology & Immunobiology, MBBCh BAO, MSc in Clinical Gerontology,MRCP(UK), FRCEM(2002), FRCP(Edinburgh), NHS Emergency Medicine & geriatrics
Dr Thomas Carnwath, MBBCh, MA, FRCPsych, FRCGP, consultant psychiatrist
Tim Nike, BSc (Hons), MCSP, HCPC, Specialist Neurological Physiotherapist
Dr Tanya Klymenko, PhD, FHEA, FIBMS, Senior lecturer in Biomedical Sciences
Dr Peter Chan, BM, MRCS, MRCGP, NLP, General Practitioner, Functional medicine practitioner
Dr Ayiesha Malik MBChB, MRCGP (2014), General Practitioner
Dr Bob Gill, MBChB, MRCGP, General Practitioner
Dr Salmaan Saleem MBBS, BMedSci, MRCGP (2019), General Practitioner
Mr John Bunni, MBChB (Hons), Dip Lap Surg, FRCS [ASGBI Medal], Consultant Colorectal and General Surgeon
Rev Dr William J U Philip, MBChB, MRCP, BD, Senior Minister The Tron Church, Glasgow, formerly physician specialising in cardiology
