William Murphy
Unsupported
Unsupported claim about COVID-19 vaccines, anti-spike antibodies, and myocarditis misrepresented conclusions from a New England Journal of Medicine article
Claim:
“antibodies that people produce against the coronavirus spike protein may lead to myocarditis”
Low
Unsupported claim about COVID-19 vaccines, anti-spike antibodies, and myocarditis misrepresented conclusions from a New England Journal of Medicine article
Both SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 vaccines induce the body to produce antibodies against the spike protein carried by the virus. In addition, the body may also produce antibodies against other antibodies—a certain group of such antibodies are called anti-idiotypic antibodies. Such antibodies could potentially bind to antibodies against the spike protein. However, it is still unknown whether anti-idiotypic antibodies that bind to antibodies against the spike protein are actually produced in the body, and if so, whether they have any consequences on health.