Thread by @jeremyphoward

In March @manorlaboratory was a senior author on a paper that looked at spike proteins.

It became one of the most discussed papers ever when anti-vaxxers misunderstood it and claimed it shows vaccines are unsafe.

Our new paper shows the opposite: fast.ai/2021/10/27/vac…

The original paper has become the most discussed ever in Circulation Research & is in the top 0.005% of discussed papers across all topics.

Most mentions we found of it on social media, youtube, and blogs totally misunderstood what it said.
ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CI…

For instance, here's an enthusiasically wrong all-caps article "MASSIVE: WORLD RENOWNED DOCTOR BLOWS LID OFF OF COVID VACCINE" saying "the vaccine technology produces the dangerous spike protein […] which damages blood vessels and causes blood clotting"
archive.md/9lG0l#selectio…

But we explain in our new paper that the presence of anti-spike antibodies may in fact serve to *protect* vaccinated individuals against not only SARS-CoV-2 infection, but also against spike-protein induced damage to the vascular endothelium.

We conclude that all approved SARS-CoV-2 vaccines provide far more benefits than risks, & that the very rare risk of VITT from the AZ and JJ vaccines is not due to the spike proteins, but is most likely due to specific details of the formulation of the vaccines.
cc @ProfPCDoherty

If you see anyone claiming that spike proteins make the COVID vaccine unsafe, please share this paper with them, that shows the opposite:
fast.ai/2021/10/27/vac…

For more information about vaccine hesitancy and vaccine safety, see my article co-authored with @Prof_NickTalley in @USATODAY
usatoday.com/story/opinion/…

And for some useful fact-checking on commonly espoused anti-vax claims (including those in our paper), take a look at this article:
healthfeedback.org/claimreview/va…