After having what she described as a “common cold,” MSNBC News Host Yasmin Vossoughian suffered a very cold and uncommon situation: developing pericarditis followed by myocarditis. In a MSNBC News segment, the 44-year old described her harrowing experience that required two hospital stays and explained how it emphasized the need to “listen to your body...The only person who knows how you feel or what you are feeling or when you need help is you.” Yet, soon after her revelation, some folks on social media acted as if they knew more about Vossoughian’s body than she did. Although neither she nor Greg Katz, MD, the cardiologist who took care of her at New York University (NYU) Langone Hospital, mentioned the Covid-19 vaccine on the MSNBC segment, surprise, surprise, you still quickly saw claims on social media that Covid-19 vaccines were somehow to blame for her condition.
Her ordeal began on December 20, 2022, with chest pain that “waxed and waned.” Ten days later, she visited urgent care where she was told that she had gastroesophageal reflux. She said that she “didn’t really buy it. But I was relieved that it wasn’t my heart,” as she described in the following MSNBC news segment:
As you can see, she went on to say, “My body, though, was pretty certain not to believe the reflux. The next day, on December 30, I woke up with severe pains both in my chest and in my left shoulder, and it was like a tightening in my chest when I took deep breaths that got worse when I was lying flat.” She was then admitted to the hospital where she was diagnosed with pericarditis, which is inflammation of the pericardium. The pericardium is that membranous sac that wraps around your heart. Doctors also found fluid in that sac that had to be drained.
She managed to leave the hospital on January 4, but three days later returned to the hospital after feeling a flutter in her heart. This wasn’t one of those flutters that you have when you see your crush. Rather, it was likely an abnormal heart rhythm from what turned out to be myocarditis. Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscles because “myo,” which sounds like the opposite of “your o,” means muscle, “card” means heart, and “itis” means inflammation. She then stayed for five more days in the hospital where she was treated for myocarditis. Vossoughian is now out of the hospital, on medications, and hopefully on the mend.
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While she was in the hospital, doctors like Katz assessed Vossoughian’s history, physical exam findings, and test results, you know data and scienc-y stuff like that. From all the evidence, they concluded that her previous common cold was the culprit behind the pericarditis and myocarditis. On the MSNBC news segment, Katz, the medical doctor who actually took care of Vossoughian, explained how, when it comes to getting the common cold, “Your immune system for most of us just takes a couple days to clear the virus and we have the standard runny nose, sore throat, that kind of stuff, and it’s self-limited, and it goes away.” Katz added, “But for a small proportion of people, they get an overactive immune response and they can have inflammation in lots of different areas.”
Indeed, a bunch of viral infections can lead to myocarditis. These include infections from adenoviruses that can cause the common cold, parvoviruses, echoviruses, Epstein-Barr virus, Coxsackie viruses, influenza viruses, and, drum roll please, the SARS-CoV-2. While pericarditis and myocarditis are rare potential side effects of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna Covid-19 mRNA vaccines, the chances of you getting such heart issues from Covid-19 itself are substantially higher, as shown by a systematic review and meta-analysis of existing studies published on September 25, 2022, in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. I’ve also covered this pericarditis and myocarditis issue on multiple occasions for Forbes such as on December 4, 2021, and on June 26, 2021.
Viruses aren’t the only things that can lead to such heart inflammation. Various bacteria, fungi, and parasites can result in myocarditis as well. So can autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis or lupus, a range of different medications, radiation, and heavy metals. In this case, heavy metal refers to things like arsenic, lead, and cadmium rather than the song “Iron Man” from Black Sabbath. As you can see, there are a number of different things that can cause myocarditis. So, assuming that every case of myocarditis is caused by the Covid-19 vaccines would be like assuming that every wound is a shark bite.
Nevertheless, a bunch of people who are neither medical doctors nor scientists decided to get their shots in at Covid-19 shots. For example, thriller novel writer Alex Berenson appeared to blow his stack with the following tweet: “My new Stack, on the case of MSNBC host @yasminv, whose severe myocarditis earlier this month was DEFINITELY not vaccine-related, mmmkay. TOTALLY NOT!” And Clay Travis, who’s a political commentator and the host of a conservative talk show, tweeted out, “Fully healthy MSNBC host, who has received all her covid shots despite covid offering her zero risk, tells MSNBC viewers she got a very serious case of myocarditis from a common cold.” Of course, this tweet had feet of clay in that no one has “zero risk” from Covid. Practically everyone with a nose and mouth can catch the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). And anyone infected with the SARS-CoV-2 has a chance of suffering more severe Covid-19. The other curious thing is that Travis mentioned the “covid shots” even though neither Vossoughian nor Katz did. Lisa Boothe, a FOX News political commentator, responded to Travis’s tweet with, “We know what’s happening.” Umm, do you? Do you really know what’s happening with other people’s bodies and lives?
So, basically after Vossoughian went through a major health scare and medical ordeal, you’ve got a thriller novel writer and political commentators questioning her assertions about her own body and health. They seemed to be trying to de-legitimize what Vossoughian had said about her own experience with the common cold leading to her pericarditis and myocarditis. And why? Simply to advance their own agenda whether it’s political, financial, or what have you? That folks would be cold. But unfortunately it’s become increasingly common—an increasingly common cold thing to do.
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