The American Heart Association—Protecting cardiac health with no mention of the shots

Ignoring the elephant

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a top killer and has been so for years. The American Heart Association (AHA) has been, in its words, “fighting heart disease and stroke and helping families and communities thrive.” Its website has a “newsroom” with timely articles on relevant topics, highlighting the AHA’s areas of interest and the issues it deems most relevant to heart health.

Taking a look at this year, 2024, with a focus on CVD, one finds articles on how social and environmental factors could increase risk; how migraines could be linked to CVD; the dangers of artificial, outdoor nighttime light with respect to strokes; how treating anxiety and depression can improve heart health; links between race and CVD; the link between sweetened drinks and atrial fibrillation risk; how cannabis use can lead to CVD… and more.

What one does not find is any reference to the COVID shots.

Now let’s switch the focus to COVID itself and search the AHA newsroom for articles, going back as far as 2022. Perhaps a pattern will start to emerge.

Year: 2022

January: The AHA, along with FDA, CDC etc., is still pushing the shots, claiming that this is the way to end the “pandemic.”

COVID-19 boosters recommended for all ages 12 and older; vaccines offer best protection

The American Heart Association appeals for everyone ages 5 and older to receive the COVID-19 vaccines as soon as possible and everyone ages 12 and older to receive booster doses as soon as they are eligible. The COVID-19 vaccines and boosters provide the best protection against COVID-19, including the Omicron variant, and the best opportunity for ending the COVID-19 pandemic.

January: Commenting on a study, the AHA notes that MIS-C (multi-system inflammatory syndrome, a very rare condition allegedly linked to COVID and frequently cited as justification for giving kids the shots), is actually not that terrible after all. In this study, all the children had made a full recovery within three months. They call for follow-up studies to make sure that the recoveries are sustained in the long-term, but do not alter their recommendation to take the shots despite the weakened justification.

Heart function recovered quickly in children with COVID-19-related MIS-C condition

MIS-C did not cause lasting coronary artery abnormalities. During the initial hospitalization, 70% of patients had evidence of some heart malfunction, however, all scans were normal by the three-month follow-up … results suggest that there is no subclinical cardiac dysfunction after three months…

The most important question yet to answer is how these children are faring one to two years after their initial hospitalization.

July: The shots are no longer being portrayed as saviors of mankind; people fully up-to-date with the shots are still being hospitalized “for COVID,” even when the variant being blamed for their illness is the relatively mild Omicron mutation. And yet the AHA still does not amend its recommendations.

High blood pressure may double the risk of severe COVID, even after full vaccination

COVID-19 vaccines helped reduce death and some of the most severe side effects from the infection early in the pandemic. A COVID-19 vaccine booster dose further reduced risks of severe illness by up to 70%, according to an observational study in Israel; however, a portion of fully vaccinated and boosted people still required hospitalization for COVID-19 during an early surge of the Omicron variant. [Emphasis added.]

August: The AHA compares myocarditis after COVID with after the shots and concludes that for males under the age of 40, the shots pose a greater risk. Nonetheless, they do not actually go so far as to warn young males not to get injected.

Myocarditis risk significantly higher after COVID-19 infection vs. after a COVID-19 vaccine

Individuals with COVID-19 infection were at least 11 times more at risk for developing myocarditis in the 1-28 days after testing positive if COVID-19 infection occurred before COVID-19 vaccination…

The risk of COVID-19 vaccine-associated myocarditis was higher in men younger than age 40 after a first dose of an mRNA vaccine or after a second dose of any of the 3 vaccines…

“It is crucial to understand who is at a higher risk for myocarditis and which vaccine type is associated with increased myocarditis risk, ” said a co-author of the paper.

September: A month has passed, and the AHA is back to issuing blanket recommendations to take the shots for all adults, regardless of age.

Adults need shots too: Find out which vaccines are important for heart health

We urge everyone who is eligible to get the vaccine and all recommended boosters. The side effects of the vaccine have proven to be minimal and far outweigh the greater risk of getting COVID.

September: Myocarditis is back… so we need “further study.”

Data from Israel: myocarditis after COVID-19 vaccines remain rare, highest risk in young males

A new study from Israel found that the risk of developing myocarditis among males ages 16 to 19 years was about 1 in 15,000 after third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, and the cases were rare and mild, according to new research published today in the American Heart Association’s flagship journal Circulation…

Researchers believe further study is required to better explain what may predispose young males to develop myocarditis after a COVID-19 vaccine and the pathophysiological mechanisms involved.

September: New-onset atrial fibrillation (AF), which translates to irregular and rapid heart rhythm often leading to blood clots and CVD, is now being linked to COVID. However, a deeper dive into the data suggests that AF isn’t actually the culprit in many of the deaths—rather, “other adverse clinical factors” are to blame. What could they be? The AHA doesn’t speculate.

Study finds connection between COVID-19 and new-onset AFib

A study using data from the American Heart Association’s COVID-19 Cardiovascular Disease Registry found new-onset atrial fibrillation (AFib) in 1 in 20 patients hospitalized with COVID-19.

From the study: 

New-onset AF was common (5.4%) among patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Almost half of patients with new-onset AF died during their index hospitalization. After multivariable adjustment for comorbidities and disease severity, new-onset AF was not statistically significantly associated with death, suggesting that new-onset AF in these patients may primarily be a marker of other adverse clinical factors rather than an independent driver of mortality. [Emphasis added.]

October: We’re now nearing the end of 2022. The AHA reports that CVD spiked during the “pandemic,” citing data up to and including 2020. What has happened since? The AHA doesn’t say. But the CDC is investigating. “Actively.”

Heart disease rates spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic, erasing years of progress

U.S. deaths from heart disease spiked in 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic after a steady decline from 2010 to 2019, reversing a public health success, according to preliminary research…

Woodruff added that the CDC is actively investigating heart disease trends after 2020 to see how the trends have evolved. Meanwhile, there are steps to better manage cardiovascular disease risk going forward.

Going into 2023

February: The AHA releases its 2023 Update on CVD.

Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics—2023 Update: A report from the AHA

The report makes no reference to COVID shots other than a passing mention that some people have a “lower intention” to receive them.

May: The AHA discusses a very dangerous type of aneurysm which is often fatal. In order to find out whether COVID infection worsens prognosis, a research team injects spike proteins (the same ones the shots prompt the body to produce) into mice, and finds that it does. Conclusion: COVID is dangerous. The shots? No mention.

Abdominal aortic aneurysm: new treatment may reduce size; COVID infection may speed growth

… the research team administered spike protein 1 (a protein the COVID-19 virus uses to enter cells) to standard mice and transgenic mice, which are genetically modified mice and widely used as a model for COVID-19 infection in humans. They found that abdominal aortic aneurysms grew significantly in both types of mice when infected with the COVID-19 virus.

August: Another study, this time examining links between COVID and high blood pressure. The shots were not taken into account.

COVID-19 may trigger new-onset high blood pressure

21% of people hospitalized with COVID-19 and 11% of those who were not hospitalized for COVID-19 developed high blood pressure, compared to 16% of people hospitalized with influenza and 4% of those not hospitalized for influenza…

The study’s limitations included … the possibility that vaccine status, which might affect severity of COVID-19 illness, may not have been captured in the health care system database… 

Now we’re up to 2024

January: This is the AHA’s most recent news article on all things COVID. It discusses young people, including pregnant and postpartum women, at risk of suffering a certain type of stroke with serious long-term outcomes. Additional risk factors have been discovered and they are… obesity and COVID infection.

New evidence informs risk factors, diagnosis and care of patients with CVT stroke

Cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) is a rare type of stroke in which a blood clot forms in the veins that drain blood from the brain. CVT accounts for less than 3% of all strokes, and it often affects younger individuals; women who are pregnant, postpartum or using oral contraceptives; and people with a tendency to form blood clots. Since the previous statement, additional risk factors associated with CVT have been identified: obesity and active COVID-19 infection…

Although 80-90% of individuals with CVT achieve functional independence, many experience residual symptoms such as headache, fatigue, low mood and impaired cognitive performance. About 10-15% of patients may experience severe outcomes, including death, disability or loss of independence, despite intensive medical treatment… [emphases added]

The shots are only discussed in the context of VITT (an often fatal blood disorder) which has been linked to adenovirus-based vaccines. The mRNA shots are ruled safe.

In 2021, the CDC and the FDA found that adenovirus-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines were associated with vaccine induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT), a condition that causes low blood platelet count and affects clotting. Although CVT in VITT is rare, those who develop it have a poor prognosis with a mortality rate of up to 61% , with symptoms such as new onset of headaches typically beginning 5-24 days after vaccination. There is no evidence of VITT in adults who received either the Pfizer or Moderna mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, and the Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) adenovirus-based COVID-19 vaccine was no longer authorized by the FDA as of June 1, 2023 [emphases added].

The AHA also, in 2024, sounded the alarm on intermittent fasting, claiming that it can lead to increased cardiac fatality rates, based on a study where almost all of the results were not statistically significant, but that is a topic for another article.