Pfizer’s Scott Gottlieb Weighs in on Emergency CDC Meeting to Address Cases of Heart Inflammation After Vaccination

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former FDA commissioner who now serves on the board of Pfizer, weighed in on news that the CDC is calling an emergency meeting next week to discuss rare, but higher than expected cases of heart inflammation in young people who received doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

The CDC said the cases have mostly involved 16 to 24 year-olds. There are more than 800 cases under review, according to the New York Times. Most are mild, though about a dozen people are hospitalized.

“It’s definitely a signal and it needs to be investigated by the FDA and the CDC,” Gottlieb said on CNBC Friday. “There does appear to be a clustering of cases in that age group.”

Gottlieb noted that most of the cases of the inflammation are mild, though “there’s a handful of people who have gotten more seriously ill and have been hospitalized.” He also said 80% of the affected are men, while 20% are women.

He added that while the risk-benefit still “certainly” favors vaccination for this younger group, “if you find a link between the vaccine and these cases of heart inflammation, it could open questions like, do you formulate the vaccine at lower dose? Which is already being done for younger patients.

“You want to get to the bottom of this so you can try come up with an approach that mitigates this potential risk,” he said.

Watch above, via CNBC.