The CDC announced Thursday that it will convene a meeting of its advisers on June 18th to discuss rare but higher-than-expected reports of heart inflammation following doses of the mRNA-based Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. So far, the CDC has identified 226 reports that might meet the agency's working case definition" of myocarditis and pericarditis following the shots, the agency disclosed Thursday. The CDC first described the panel's session as an "emergency meeting," but later changed it to merely a "COVID-19 meeting." Previous times the advisors convened to discuss the pandemic " like their May 12th gathering to mull recommendations for Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine in adolescents " were also described as "emergency meetings." The new details about myocarditis and pericarditis emerged first in presentations to a panel of independent advisers for the Food and Drug Administration, who are meeting Thursday to discuss how the regulator should approach emergency use authorization for using COVID-19 vaccines in younger children. The CDC previously disclosed that reports of heart inflammation were detected mostly in younger men and teenage boys following their second dose, and that there was a "higher number of observed than expected" cases in 16- to 24-year-olds. "Risk-benefit considerations … will need to account for this information," [said] Dr. Marion Gruber, director of the FDA's vaccine office."