Pfizer’s Updated COVID Booster Linked To Potential Stroke Risk, CDC Launches ‘Additional Investigation’

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Friday’s announcement by the CDC that it has launched an “additional investigation” In Pfizer’s updated COVID booster after a government safety monitoring system detected a potential stroke risk for those 65 and older who received the pharmaceutical giant’s bivalent shot. 

Two bivalent COVID vaccines have been developed Authorized FDA in August of last year to increase protection against the virus’ progression into new strains such as Omicron. The boosters now include both a component from Omicron and a component that was originally COVID. According To the FDA.

“CDC’s Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD), a near real-time surveillance system, met the statistical criteria to prompt additional investigation into whether there was a safety concern for ischemic stroke in people ages 65 and older who received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, Bivalent,” The CDC stated in a a href=”https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/bivalent-boosters.html”>statement. 

The concerning VSD signal has caused the agency to question whether those 65 and older who received Pfizer’s Bivalent COVID vaccine were at an increased risk of having an ischemic stroke up to three weeks after their vaccination compared to 22-44 days after the shot. The CDC said Moderna’s Bivalent COVID vaccine was not identified for the same risk by its monitoring system. 

According to the CDC, there are approximately “may be other confounding factors contributing” to the VSD’s signaling of the Pfizer vaccine and emphasized that other studies conducted on Pfizer and Moderna Bivalent vaccines did not validate the signal. The agency also stated that there have been no new reports of strokes in the United States or elsewhere in the world following the update vaccine.

“Although the totality of the data currently suggests that it is very unlikely that the signal in VSD represents a true clinical risk, we believe it is important to share this information with the public,” According to the CDC. 

The CDC has continued to encourage vaccination despite the findings of the government agency’s new investigation. “everyone ages 6 months of age and older stay up-to-date with COVID-19 vaccination,” All of them “eligible to receive an updated (bivalent) vaccine.”

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