In a recent program, an MSNBC anchor disclosed that she missed work for almost a month in December due to heart inflammation that required hospitalization. MSNBC anchor Yasmin Vossoughian was hospitalized with severe myocarditis and pericarditis.
The health scare, according to Yasmin Vossoughian, began on December 20 when she first noticed chest pains that “waxed and waned over a period of 10 days.” Over the subsequent days, she claimed, those pains “continued to get worse”.
The anchor, who presents a weekend show on the left-wing network, said she went to urgent care on December 30 and was diagnosed with acid reflux. She awoke the next day with significant chest pains and pain in her left shoulder, causing her to assume she was having a heart attack.
Vossoiughian, 44, stated that she rushed to the ER. Doctors diagnosed her with pericarditis, or inflammation of the heart’s lining. They claimed it was the result of “a literal common cold,” she explained.
She also stated that she does not smoke, runs several miles each week, practices yoga, does not eat meat, and only drinks on occasion. “I’m a pretty healthy person,” she explained.
She was admitted to the hospital and stayed for several days before being released on January 4, according to Vossoiughian.
“But that was not the end … three days later, I was readmitted when I felt a flutter in my heart like a butterfly,” she explained. Doctors subsequently notified her that she had myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle, and she was admitted to the hospital for another five days.
After that, Vossoiughian claimed that “just the cold that was doing … all the inflammation in and around my heart.”
Speculation
With the confirmation of Vossoiughian’s pericarditis and myocarditis, there was significant suspicion on social media that it was triggered by a COVID-19 vaccine or booster. During her program, the MSNBC anchor made no mention of COVID-19 or immunizations, and she said her physicians attributed it on the common cold virus.
According to the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, pericarditis and myocarditis are both regarded as adverse reactions to mRNA vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna.
However, myocarditis can, while being uncommon, be brought on “by an infection in the body,” such as the common cold, influenza, and COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins University. Infections with bacteria, fungi, or parasites can potentially cause inflammation of the myocardium.
While noting that “a wide range of infections, diseases, and substances may cause this condition,” the Myocarditis Foundation claims that “viral infections are the leading cause of myocarditis.”
Additionally, according to the UK National Health Service, “pericarditis often follows a viral infection, such as a sore throat or cold.”
Vossoiughian posted on social media in 2021 that she had been thoroughly vaccinated against COVID-19. “We are both vaccinated…that was confirmed before this pic!” she said in April of that year. Comcast’s NBCUniversal also required all employees, including those employed by MSNBC, to acquire the vaccine before returning to their jobs in early 2022.
According to a peer-reviewed study published in Nature Communications, the Moderna vaccine increases myocarditis risk in young adults by 44 times.
Later in the broadcast, the MSNBC host interviewed her doctor, Dr. Greg Katz, a cardiologist at NYU Langone Hospital. Vossoiughian questioned him about anecdotal assertions that pericarditis and myocarditis are becoming increasingly common.
“Could be the season is more virus heavy, maybe our immune systems are different because we’ve been masking and social distancing,” Katz claimed, adding that “nobody knows why this is.”