Associated Press published a “fact check” on the now-peer-reviewed paper from Thailand that identified just how common cardiac effects after the second mRNA vaccine could be for adolescents. I have previously addressed this study in several posts: this introduction to the study; this look at the factchecks from Reuters and AP; due diligence regarding the Thai study itself; and an analysis of the essay from pediatric cardiologist Dr Francis Han that Reuters references in its fact-check.
Now it is time to perform due diligence on the experts quoted in the AP study - Dr Eric Adler, a cardiologist based in San Diego; Shane Crotty PhD, a San Diego-based researcher.
Regarding Dr. Alder, he is a well-established researcher, who co-authored a 2022 review article on myocarditis after mRNA vaccination. His review article is well-written and researched with 124 references. Published in April 2022, it was an unsystematic review and missed two of the more significant studies regarding mRNA myocarditis incidence: Xue et al (2021) and Krug et al (February 2022).
Dr. Adler appears to take issue with the lack of a placebo control group in the Thai study, so much so that he appears to have missed the seven cases of lab-positive cardiac inflammation, and single case of hospitalized myocarditis, whose presence alone is the cause for tremendous concern:
I will opine that Dr. Adler should re-read the study with an eye on the abnormal lab and imaging results.
Dr. Shane Crotty is an active researcher in the area of immunology and vaccine responsiveness. To date, he has not published on vaccine safety, nor on the subject of cardiac outcomes from either covid or covid vaccines. His comments regarding the Mansanguan 2022 article deal with an area regarding which he does not appear very familiar with:
In a similar fashion to Dr. Adler, Professor Crotty appears to overlook the seven participants who developed cardiac inflammation, and does not appear to consider the case of clinical myocarditis which was found as important. Neither commentator appears to realize, or perhaps does not want to mention, that the single case of clinical myocarditis out of 301 adolescents would still result in a point estimate of post-vaccine myocarditis ten to twenty times higher than previous estimates, and higher than the post-covid myocarditis rates cited by Adler’s 2022 review. Let alone if one adds the other six lab-positive instances of cardiac inflammation.
Following these academic commentators, AP quotes from an unnamed Pfizer representative:
Finally, the AP fact check gave a paraphrased quote from the corresponding author of the Thailand study, Dr. Chayasin Mansanguan, regarding how it was being represented on Twitter. They comment that the co-author declined to comment on the specifics of the study until it was published.
Which it was, on August 19th - - the day after the fact-check was published.
Overall, I would recommend that AP rewrite this fact-check, and ask its commentators to read the study more carefully prior to crafting their responses. And AP almost had a chance to provide journalistic balance, had they only waited an extra 24 hours prior to publishing their fact check.