What are the connections between COVID-19 Vaccines and Heart Attacks in India?

The impact COVID-19 had on the entire world is not to be understated. It has left a gaping hole in the lives of hundreds of millions of individuals who have experienced the condition first hand. It was one of the largest pandemics the world has ever seen, and because of that, the search for a vaccine had begun, and this led to a very long waiting time before the first vaccine trials were open to the public for testing purposes. This is where the first seeds of doubt began to spill over to concerned individuals for the fear of their own safety, and these individuals started to raise their concerns to their communities, which then spiralled on to the point where there was a decent chunk of the country extremely hesitant in taking the vaccine.

Among these concerns happen to be one of the most widespread rumors and beliefs that the vaccine is fully capable of shutting down the heart through a violent heart attack. This theory was further strengthened through a variety of social media disputes against professional doctors who know of the capabilities of COVID-19 and influencers who are unable to accept the potency of the vaccines presented by the WHO. The steady increase in stories where individuals break down their experiences of receiving the vaccine and suddenly having heart-related issues that have put them in hospital.

WHY DOES THIS TOPIC MATTER IN INDIA?

The country of India has some of the highest amount of Cardiovascular Disease (CD) cases in the world, and these conditions are not solely affecting the elderly any more. Young adults have been getting much more heart conditions over the past decade and will continue to do so the way the country has been going the past few decades. This has only increased tenfold after many cases that have experienced serious heart attacks have been reported directly after the same people have received their vaccine shots, raising a lot of red flags for already wary individuals.

A BRIEF SUMMARY OF COVID-19 VACCINES

The COVID-19 vaccines are meant to strengthen the immune system as well as let it know how and when to fight the virus if and when it enters the body. It does so by producing specific antibodies that are meant for combating the virus and only the virus. This in turn may cause some very mild after-effects in the body, such as mild amounts of fever every now and then, some body aches, as well as some cases of fatigue that only stays along for merely 48-hours at most. SOme of the vaccines developed in India are as follows:-

• Covishield, which uses the Oxford and AstraZeneca formulation.
• Covaxin, which was developed in the Bharat BioTech labs.
• Some international vaccines were also used in India in limited areas such as Sputnik-V and Corbevax.

Post-COVID complications and their confusion with flu-like illnesses make this article on Influenza and Seasonal Flu in Hindi worth reading.

ARE COVID-19 VACCINES CAUSING HEART ATTACKS?

According to many different studies and tests done and ran through countless times, COVID-19 vaccines have no real connection to the cause of heart attacks. There were also many reports done by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) that have concluded that any heart attack that occurs post-COVID vaccine would be extremely rare and if there were a heart attack, it would have been for a completely different reason and condition based on certain pre-existing heart condition factors. Companies and organizations such as Lancet and WHO all believe that the benefits received from the vaccine outright trump each and every potential risk that comes from them.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GLOBAL AND INDIAN DATA?

Some countries have different sorts of common heart disorders that are completely different from the others. For example, both the United States of America and the United Kingdom have mild myocarditis, which causes a lot of inflammation in the heart, which a small amount of young males are contracted with. This has been found to be an after-effect of the mRNA vaccines, such as Pfizer and Moderna. India on the other hand has been using mRNA vaccines much less frequently and is instead relying on Covaxin and Covishield, which has a lot fewer heart-related after effects.

COVID-19 and heart health are closely linked to inflammation markers; understand more through this guide on CRP Test in Hindi.

MYTH BUSTING RELATED TO COVID-19 VACCINES

Vaccines can cause heart attacks

There has been no scientific support or even proof of this claim and the only cases that have received any type of heart condition would almost always be a pre-existing condition that was bound to happen either way.

Having natural immunity is better

Individuals who have no sort of vaccine in their bodies have a much higher chance of receiving serious heart conditions such as myocarditis, lots of blood clots and even signs of stroke.

Young people and children do not require vaccines

There have been a multitude of cases where young Indian children have passed away from ignoring the COVID-19 vaccine. It is also very important to note that vaccination is a way of helping everyone, including young children, and by preventing them from taking the vaccine will continue to cause a lot of unwanted deaths.

Deaths after exercises will prove a link

A lot of the deaths were caused by undetected or unregistered heart conditions that have no relation to the vaccine and instead are because of another unrelated medical condition.

To understand the symptoms and warning signs related to cardiovascular issues, you can also explore our blog on Symptoms of Heart Attack in Hindi.

WHY ARE HEART ATTACKS IN INDIA HAPPENING MORE OFTEN NOW? 

INCREASED AWARENESS

A lot of individuals seem to value their lives much more than previously thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, and are now sending messages and videos regarding their experiences with heart conditions during and before COVID-19, which have been able to spread the knowledge of how serious the conditions can be if not taken care of immediately.

STRESSFUL AND SEDENTARY LIFESTYLE

The lockdown period during the COVID pandemic affected some individuals more than the others, and the indoors started to make people gain weight through a lot of unhealthy eating habits, complete lack of exercise and even putting themselves through a lot of unnecessary stress through overthinking and worrying about when the lockdown period will end. All of these conditions can lead to some very serious heart complications.

DELAYED HEALTH CHECKUPS

Many Indians would often skip their meetups with their health centers simply because they could not care less about the vaccine procedures. This in turn would cause a lot of symptoms and complications to go unnoticed and would ultimately lead to urgent hospitalization and even sometimes death.

ANY POST-COVID EFFECTS

COVID-19 is capable of causing a lot of inflammation throughout the body, and this usually occurs directly after the virus has been extracted and destroyed in the body. This inflammation has been stated by many scientists to cause a lot of stress directed towards the heart, causing it to sometimes overexert itself.

Since COVID-19 impacts people with existing lifestyle conditions, it's essential to check your Cholesterol levels in Hindi to reduce cardiac risks.

WHO ALL SHOULD BE REQUIRED TO TAKE THE VACCINE?

• Individuals who are no strangers to having heart or cardiac related issues in their past or in their family.
• Individuals that are currently suffering from blood clotting disorders.
• Any individual who is suffering from a particular autoimmune disease.
• People who have showcased severe allergic reactions to components found within the vaccine itself.
• Individuals who suffer from different types of diabetes and even a kind of uncontrollable hypertension disorder.

WHAT ARE THE BEST HEART-RELATED TESTS BEFORE AND AFTER A VACCINE TEST IN INDIA?

• ECG or an Electrocardiogram is a very useful test that essentially checks your heart rhythm for any type of irregular heart beat.
• An Echocardiogram can simply take a mapping of your heart's chambers and decipher what might actually be wrong with the blood flow or heart beats.
• The Treadmill Test is a very common heart test mostly used to see how well your heart can perform in situations where the heart is put under extreme amounts of stress.
• The Lipid Profile blood test simply takes into measurement how much cholesterol is present in your blood to see if there are any issues with too much or too little cholesterol in the heart.
• The test that measures the amount of blood sugar in the heart is also a really important one to utilize.
• The D-Dimer Blood Test is used whenever the body starts to create a lot of blood clots throughout the body, and can be tracked back to how the heart is operating.

WHAT ARE THE VARIOUS WAYS TO PROTECT YOUR HEART AFTER THE VACCINATION?

• Be sure to keep a sharp eye on managing your own stress levels daily through simple tasks such as meditation, therapy and even practicing the art of yoga.
• Having a balanced diet can certainly improve the quality of your lifestyle, and with a good dietician to tell you exactly what you are required to have in a day as well as how much you are supposed to have to keep your body nice and healthy.
• Try out different outdoor activities that require you to exercise at least 30 minutes a day, as that will allow your heart to exert more than enough energy to keep itself active daily.
• Avoid any and all types of smoking and consumption of alcoholic substances, as they will cause a lot of triggers for heart complications later down the line if it does not stop.

General immune responses to vaccines may affect overall health. Learn more about CBC Test in Hindi and its role in post-vaccine monitoring.

CONCLUSION 

Indians are completely safe to have vaccination shots and injections, and they should have nothing to worry about. Heart attacks after taking a vaccine may simply indicate that the individual was affected by a heart condition prior to the vaccine, and thus has nothing to do with it. There is no need to panic, but there must be some important awareness that needs to spread throughout the country itself. In case you might be having some sort of underlying heart condition that you may or may not know about, always take a complete test before having the vaccine.

Medical Disclaimer – The information that has been written is only to be used for educational purposes. There has been no information presented by this website, be it tests, images and graphics, which should be taken as professional medical advice. Always consult with your doctor regarding any medical advice that may relate to your condition.