Elon Musk came under heavy criticism after he tweeted about a possible connection between the COVID-19 vaccine and the cardiac arrest suffered on Tuesday by Bronny James, the son of NBA star LeBron James.
The billionaire tech mogul, who has previously come under criticism for spreading misinformation on Twitter over COVID-19 vaccines, responded to a tweet about the Bronny James news with a statement about the vaccine.
“We cannot ascribe everything to the vaccine, but, by the same token, we cannot ascribe nothing,” he wrote.
“Myocarditis is a known side-effect,” Musk added. “The only question is whether it is rare or common.”
Myocarditis is a rare inflammatory condition that affects the heart and has been reported in cases in some adolescents and young adult males who were administered the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
There is no evidence yet about what caused Bronny James’s health problems. But Musk’s tweet quickly took on a life of its own.
Musk’s post was cited by Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum during a Tuesday interview with Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, a medical contributor to the network, about the incident involving James.
“People see these situations and it does raise questions about the vaccine because we saw some of what you talked about happen in some young individuals after that. Elon Musk tweeted about it,” MacCallum said. “Is that a fair question to raise?”
Nesheiwat responded by saying that what’s “more common in someone like Bronny James is cardiomyopathy, not myocarditis.”
She added, “We don’t have the data to say” if there have been more incidents like the one involving Bronny James after coronavirus vaccines were widely administered following the pandemic.
Musk came under criticism from others on his own media platform, which he has rebranded this week as “X.”
“Dear @elonmusk: You have access to vast resources. Please consult some,” Rep Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) wrote in a tweet. “You don’t know if Mr. James even has myocarditis. More importantly, the American Heart Association has stated ‘COVID-19 infection poses higher risk for myocarditis than vaccines.’”
A James family spokesperson said that Bronny James is currently recovering after suffering the medical emergency during a workout session at the University of Southern California’s (USC) Galen Center Monday morning.
The battle over controlling information about vaccines on social media has erupted in courts and politics, with conservatives in Congress arguing that the Biden administration has sought to censor talk about the vaccine.
A federal appeals court earlier this month paused another court’s order that limited Biden administration officials from communicating with social media companies about online posts.
At the height of the pandemic, the administration had sought to push back on what it viewed as misinformation about vaccines.
Vaccines have been shown to greatly reduce the chances of death or serious health problems from COVID-19.
Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest episode during a Monday Night Football game against the Cincinnati Bengals earlier this year. He had to be resuscitated twice by medical officials on the field and at a medical facility after he collapsed on the field after making a tackle on an opposing player.
Dominick Mastrangelo also contributed to this report.
