Fact-Check: Have the Covid Vaccines Caused Heart Attacks?

Claim: The Covid vaccines cause heart attacks.

Assessment: The author fails to support claims with relevant evidence, uses a non-sequitur, and cites someone without relevant expertise.

Rating: False

For the claim, Natural News cites Life Site, which cites a man who wrote a letter to FDA. The letter writer is a surgeon. Surgeons rarely spend time conducting clinical trials, nor do they tend to participate in vaccine development because their study path is quite long. Suffice to say, one may be a surgeon and know nothing about infectious disease epidemiology.

Expertise in one area does not confer it to others. The Natural News article claims the virus affects vascular endothelium, which is true.¹ That's why it's a good idea not to get the virus. Here we see a logical fallacy. The author offers support for the main claim with a fact that is not relevant, a non-sequitur.²

Non-Sequitur: “When the conclusion does not follow from the premises. In more informal reasoning, it can be when what is presented as evidence or reason is irrelevant or adds very little support to the conclusion.”

Logical fallacies are common and they often feel convincing—a good reason why we should not base a conclusion on feeling or emotion. Much as an optical illusion can make us see that which isn’t there, logical fallacies can convince us where no merit exists.

Some of the argument is incoherent: "Because of the unique gain of function." A science journalist would not use this phrase when writing for lay readers.³ Most people won't know the phrase. If your aim is to inform people then you are as clear as possible.

Logical fallacies and obscure language suggest the article's intention is something other than informing the reader. What do those things suggest to you?

Tangentially related: The flu, the seasonal one, increases the risk of a heart attack 6X. ⁴ Get your vaccines. Also, please get your information from people who don't cite a person who wrote a letter for a terrifying claim during a pandemic. It’s utterly irresponsible and a transparent attempt to drive up revenue.

More on Fake News about Vaccines and Foreign Disinformation:

• US News Outlets Republish Russian Vaccine Disinformation, Hurting US Pandemic Response⁵

• List of Bill Gates Fake News and Foreign Disinformation Campaigns⁶

• Pro-Kremlin Covid-19 Vaccine Disinformation⁷

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References:

1. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30937-5/fulltext

2. https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/logicalfallacies/Non-Sequitur

3. https://theconversation.com/accurate-science-or-accessible-science-in-the-media-why-not-both-59871

4. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1702090?query=featured_home

5. https://novelscience.substack.com/p/us-news-outlets-republish-russian

6. https://novelscience.substack.com/p/list-of-known-bill-gates-fake-news

7. https://novelscience.substack.com/p/known-pro-kremlin-covid-19-vaccine