Business

Here’s Why Vaccines Probably Didn’t Cause Bronny James’ Cardiac Arrest

July 28, 2023

Topline

Billionaire Elon Musk recently took to Twitter (recently renamed to X), which he owns, to imply that the Covid-19 vaccine may have played a role in LeBron James’ 18-year-old son Bronny’s recent cardiac arrest—here’s why that is unlikely.

LeBron James’ eldest son, LeBron “Bronny” James Jr, is in stable conditions after going into cardiac … [+] arrest on Monday—a not so rare instance for young basketball players. (Photo by Alex Bierens de Haan/Getty Images)

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Key Facts

Musk—the richest person in the world—responded to Bronny James’ cardiac arrest by tweeting: “We cannot ascribe everything to the vaccine, but, by the same token, we cannot ascribe nothing,” adding that “Myocarditis is a known side-effect. The only question is whether it is rare or common.”

Myocarditis—or inflammation of the heart muscle—is a rare side-effect of the mRNA Covid-19 vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna, but it can be triggered by many other things, such as viruses like the coronavirus itself, bacteria and infections, according to the Yale School of Medicine.

Reports of myocarditis are extremely rare compared to the total vaccinated population: Of 192,405,448 people who received the mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccines between December 2020 and August 2021, 1,626 reported side effects that met the “case definition of myocarditis,” research published in JAMA Network last year found.

Heart complications like myocarditis and pericarditis are actually more common after contracting Covid-19 than after receiving a vaccine, according to a study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last year—even among young men and teenage boys, who are more likely to face myocarditis from vaccines.

A 2021 CDC study found people who contracted Covid-19 are 15.7 times more likely to face myocarditis than their uninfected peers, with the risk of myocarditis higher among males, and a 2022 American Heart Association study found that “about 3 in every 1,000 patients hospitalized due to a COVID-19 infection developed acute myocarditis.”

Bronny James’ vaccination status is unclear, but the heart condition myopericarditis is most common within a week of receiving the second Covid-19 vaccine dose, a study published earlier this year in Science Immunology said, though federal health officials say side effects have also been reported after the first dose or a booster shot.

A 2022 study from the American Heart Association found that “about 3 in every 1,000 patients hospitalized due to a COVID-19 infection developed acute myocarditis.”

Key Background

Bronny James is in stable condition after going into cardiac arrest Monday during a basketball practice at the University of Southern California, where the 18-year-old is an All-American athlete, according to a statement from his family. According to recruiting platform 247Sports, the USC Trojans’ incoming point guard was among the top 30 college basketball recruits this year and is among the top five combo guard recruits. He played four seasons with Sierra Canyon School in California, the first state to mandate Covid-19 vaccines for students in 2021—which was Bronny’s junior season. Athletes going into cardiac arrest is not unheard-of, Forbes recently reported. A sports medicine expert and physician at the University of Alabama in Birmingham’s School of Medicine attributes notes that basketball involves “sudden bursts of cardiovascular effort” and many players have tall, long-limbed body types, making sudden cardiac arrest more likely. According to the Cleveland Clinic, myopericarditis is anything related to issues, including inflammation, of the myocardium (heart muscle) and pericardium (heart muscle’s protection).

Crucial Quote

“The risk of SCD (sudden cardiac death) is higher in male and African-American athletes and appears to be disproportionately high in men’s basketball players,” according to 2016 research published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Big Number

132. That’s how many cases of exercise-related sudden cardiac arrest were reported between July 1, 2014 and June 30, 2016 among middle, high school and college athletes–mostly among males (84%), high school athletes (59%) and basketball players (30%)—according to research from the Sports Health journal.

Tangent

A Twitter fact check of Musk’s statement on Bronny James originally said: “Studies show that the risk of myocarditis is significantly higher after an actual Covid infection than with the vaccine. Among adolescent boys, the risk of myocarditis following a Covid infection was approximately twice that of the risk following the second vaccine dose.” The note has since been removed from Musk’s tweet for unknown reasons.

Surprising Fact

Earlier this year, Damar Hamlin, a 25-year-old defensive safety for the Buffalo Bills, shocked viewers when he went into cardiac arrest in the middle of the team’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Hamlin’s incident, which kept him in the hospital for over a week, also fueled anti-vaccine narratives on the Internet.