Vaccine side effects rare, but one local woman says it happened to her

Sep. 27—ADRIAN — As a healthy 34-year-old, Ashley Johns initially hesitated to get a coronavirus vaccination, only giving in in April to better safeguard her toddler son as the virus moved through the Michigan correctional facility where she works.

Now, after an apparent heart attack, myopericarditis, weeks of hospitalization, months of testing, and "a new morning routine of meds that mirrors my grammie's," she wishes she hadn't.

When all other potential explanations were negative, she said her doctors concluded that her condition was most likely caused by the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

"My case is probably 1 in a million, but it happened to me, so I'm not going to support the J&J vaccine, because I'm having these complications and life changes," Ms. Johns said.

Actually, her case would be more rare than that.

Myocarditis and pericarditis — inflammation of the heart or its surrounding sack — have been widely reported as a potential side effect of the mRNA vaccines, Pfizer and Moderna, with federal officials currently reviewing nearly 800 cases, predominantly in young males.

But the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website says, "There has not been a similar reporting pattern observed after receipt of the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine [Johnson & Johnson]."

"I feel like a test rat," Ms. Johns said.

She received her single-dose jab April 12, the day before use of the J&J vaccine was paused, but said she didn't notice complications until three months later, on July 9.

The pain started with what felt like heartburn or indigestion, but three days later intensified to the point she was breathing into a paper bag for relief and body aches kept her up at night. By the time she went to an emergency room, the amount of troponin in her blood, which indicates heart injury, was 7.3 nanograms per millileter. The normal range is between 0 and 0.04.

"They were like, you need a cardiac catheterization right now," she said, noting they sent her by ambulance to ProMedica Toledo Hospital for treatment. "I went and had the cath done, and they didn't find any blockages. Nothing. Normal."

There was nothing to explain why an otherwise healthy woman with no pre-existing conditions would present with an inflamed heart and a coronary tear that will take six to eight months to heal.

She met the next day with an infectious diseases team, which recommended additional testing before noting on her admissions paperwork, "if everything comes back negative, it could be due to J&J COVID vaccine."

Dr. Brian Kaminski, head of emergency medicine at ProMedica and vice president of quality and patient safety, had no specific knowledge of Ms. Johns' case, but agreed to speak generally about the coronavirus vaccines' possible side effects.

He wasn't surprised that the J&J vaccine could also potentially cause myocarditis or pericarditis because, as with Pfizer and Moderna and other routine vaccinations, it prompts a ramped-up immune response that can lead to inflammation. He also noted that the conditions "occur in the general population through normal everyday living," particularly in the younger population.

"So the COVID vaccine isn't new in that sense," Dr. Kaminski said. "The reason this has been in the spotlight so much is because it's a new vaccine and we don't really know what the true incidence [rate] is."

He stressed that side effects of any of the three coronavirus vaccines remain "extremely few and far between," despite 388 million doses being administered in the United States. In Lucas County, more than 224,000 residents have, accounting for about 52 percent of the county's population, the Ohio coronavirus dashboard showed as of Friday.

Most of the side effects Dr. Kaminski has seen have related to light-headedness, dizziness, or weakness immediately following injection, which are not considered allergic reactions because patients recover on their own and "would have had the same reaction regardless of which vaccine they received," he said.

Other symptoms, like low-grade fever, muscle aches, and fatigue, are also common a few days after injection.

What's less common, he said, is for complications to develop more than 30 days after injection or for symptoms to include a cough, shortness of breath, or a fever lasting more than four days. The latter could be signs of coronavirus, which he said is at least four times more likely to cause myocarditis and pericarditis than is a vaccine.

"We have just been able to witness the occurrences of both the benefit of the vaccine and adverse reactions, and [adverse reactions are] so low in comparison to the effects of COVID," Dr. Kaminski said.

About one in every seven patients in hospitals is being treated for coronavirus, he said, and while cases are declining again and disease is less severe than at the peak of the pandemic, some patients do still require ventilation.

"On balance, there's just so many reasons to get the vaccine over taking the risk of getting COVID," Dr. Kaminski said. "It's not even close."

The assurance does little to ease the suffering of Ms. Johns, who never had coronavirus but did happen to be one of the few to experience complications from a vaccine.

She wonders if it was worth it, after everything she's been through, especially as her future remains uncertain. In addition to continuing to heal, she said she's also developed gynecological problems and her doctors have mentioned the potential for a hysterectomy.

They also advise against her ever receiving another coronavirus vaccine, including any booster shots. She tends to share that advice with others, now, too.

"I have had a few people reach out to me and I just suggested that they not get the J&J shot," Ms. Johns said, noting that the rest of her family received the Pfizer vaccine without complication.

"Now I just have to live with whatever, until I finish this medication, and pray it doesn't come back again," she continued. "We'll see."

First Published September 27, 2021, 9:38am