‘No correlation’ between heart diseases, vaccines

EDİRNE

There is no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines increase the risk of coronary artery diseases, a Turkish expert has said, noting that there have been some negativities seen brought by the pandemic.

Çetin Gül, an Edirne-based cardiology specialist from Sultan Murat I State Hospital, stated that the rumors that COVID-19 vaccines trigger a heart attack are an exaggerated situation spread by word of mouth.

“We can say that some of the problems brought by the pandemic increase the risk of coronary artery disease, but we have no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines do this directly,” Gül told reporters.

Acknowledging that the cases of heart diseases rose during the pandemic, Gül underlined that people remained inactive due to the lockdowns, suffered from stress disorders and changed their nutrition habits.

Pointing out that coronary diseases doubled due to limitation of movement, the specialist noted that it was a coincidence that someone with heart disease had a heart attack right after getting jabbed.

Stating that there is no scientific study showing that any of the Sinovac, BioNTech or Turkovac vaccines administered against the coronavirus in Turkey triggers heart disease or attacks, Gül noted that the statements to the contrary are exaggerated.

He said that there are several publications only about AstraZeneca used in Europe, which has a tendency to clot and causes pulmonary embolism.

“A 65-year-old diabetic who smoked two packs of cigarettes a day came to the emergency room with a heart attack. This is not unexpected. Having had the BioNTech or Sinovac vaccine a week or 10 days ago does not indicate that the heart attack is from the vaccine,” the doctor noted.

“We cannot blame the vaccine if this [heart attack] happens before or after the vaccine. We need statistical results of scientific studies conducted on 8,000 - 10,000 patients in order to do this,” he added.

Gül also noted that chest pain, which is among the main symptoms of a heart attack, should not be evaluated alone.