Concerns about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, which were rushed to production for emergency use and essentially forced onto large segments of the population, have abounded in recent years.
Stories of otherwise healthy adolescents and young adults — primarily males — suffering from unexplained heart problems have only added to the speculation that these shots are not as safe as many supposed experts said they were.
Even mainstream media outlets including NBC News confirmed that evidence shows an increased risk of myocarditis and pericarditis among some young men after receiving an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine.
Yale University School of Medicine associate immunobiology professor Carrie Lucas called the vaccine “a little bit of a double-edged sword,” citing its effectiveness in building an immune response but noting that it also causes “cells to overreact and cause tissue inflammation.”
The latest high-profile case involved Bronny James, the eldest son of NBA star LeBron James, who went into cardiac arrest on Monday.
News of the development quickly spread on social media, where a number of prominent users engaged in speculation regarding the role that vaccines might — or might not — have played in the health scare.
Hi.
I’m not a doctor.
I’m just a simple man of 37 years who pays attention to trends we can see with our own eyes.
I’m here to tell you that it is NOT NORMAL for thousands of healthy teenage athletes to be collapsing – some dying – from cardiac arrest.
Now ask: Why?
🧐
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) July 25, 2023
For his part, Twitter CEO Elon Musk proclaimed: “We cannot ascribe everything to the vaccine, but, by the same token, we cannot ascribe nothing.”
Citing evidence that myocarditis “is a known side-effect” of the vaccine, he added that the “only question is whether it is rare or common.”
Musk received significant support from Twitter users who similarly believe that the safety of the vaccine deserves additional scrutiny, but many others remain entrenched in the talking points of politicians who insisted that the shot is the only way to protect against the real danger: COVID-19.
“Myocarditis is also a much more common symptom of COVID,” tweeted leftist commentator Ed Krassenstein. “It’s also something that has been happening to athletes since the beginning of sports.”
Some Twitter users opted to promote their own theories.
“Maybe it were steroids or undiagnosed heart problems?” Mario Pawlowski tweeted. “I don’t believe in this anti-vaccine propaganda Elon. Why everyone I know, including me and my family don’t have any problems after the shots?”
