26/11/2025
This question says "We still catch it" and while vaccination is an important tool we have to reduce risk, layered protection is best to reduce the amount of times you catch it all!
The best way to not be impacted by C19 induced myocarditis, Long C19 and other C19 related health impacts is to not catch C19 in the first place.
You can significantly reduce your risks by:
🌳 Meeting outdoors or in spaces that are well ventilated and/or filtrated.
😷 Wearing well fitted masks indoors or in crowded areas (doing this sometimes is better than never at all, cutting chains of transmission is always important)
In addition to the above, you can also protect those around you by:
🏠 Staying home when sick
🧪 Doing a RAT before seeing others (this is particularly important if going into healthcare or aged care)
A really good question landed in my inbox today and it deserves a proper reply in which other people may benefit.
“Snarky, I get that myocarditis risk is higher from COVID than the vaccine…
But what about people who are vaccinated and still get COVID?
We still catch it... so are our myocarditis risks the same as the unvaccinated?
Or lower?
I can’t wrap my head around how the stats apply to vaccinated-but-infected people.”
Brilliant question and honestly one of the most common points of confusion I see. I do value the good faith, curious questions, hence I've taken the time to look in to it properly.
I summary...
If you’re vaccinated and you get COVID, your myocarditis risk is STILL lower than the unvaccinated who get COVID.
The vaccine does two very boring but very important things...
It trains your immune system so the inflammation reaction during infection isn’t as chaotic. COVID myocarditis isn’t caused by the virus eating the heart like a sci-fi monster.
It’s caused by your immune system going absolutely feral.
Vaccination tones down the feral.
It also reduces viral load and symptom severity... even when you’re “sick anyway.”
Lower viral load = lower inflammation = fewer complications.
There are now multiple studies showing this pattern (Links in comments).
• Vaccinated people who got COVID still had significantly lower rates of myocarditis than unvaccinated people who got COVID.
• When vaccinated people did get myocarditis, it was almost always milder, resolved faster, and had far fewer long-term issues.
• The highest risk group by far was unvaccinated COVID infection, not vaccinated COVID infection.
My analogy is that your immune system is a football team.
COVID infection is a surprise match against Mighty Roo Girls who have won 24 games straight in the AFLW.
If you’re unvaccinated, your team runs onto the field confused and missing a ruckman.
If you’re vaccinated, your team is at least warmed up, hydrated, and knows which direction the goals are.
Same opponent.
Very different outcome.
So yes... vaccinated people get COVID.
They sometimes get myocarditis.
Sometimes multiple times.
But their risks of myocarditis, pericarditis, clots, MIS-C, strokes, and long-term cardiac issues remain substantially lower than unvaccinated people with the same infection.
This is what population data consistently shows...
Even in double- or triple-vaccinated people.
