Cleveland Clinic didn’t say millions of people with COVID-19 vaccines will die within 5 years

The Cleveland Clinic is a large and well-respected medical center based in Cleveland, Ohio, so purported news that it’s warning millions of people will soon die following COVID-19 vaccination would draw attention. 

A March 28 Facebook post shared such a headline. 

“Cleveland Clinic: Millions of COVID-vaxxed will die within ‘5 years,’” the headline said. 

This Facebook post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

The headline came from a March 23 post on the website “Slay News,” which describes itself as an “alternative” media company. PolitiFact has previously fact-checked false information published on the site. 

The post says that “the renowned Cleveland Clinic has dropped a bone-chilling warning that millions of people who received COVID mRNA ‘vaccines’ are facing sudden death within the next ‘five years.’ According to the Ohio-based academic medical center, large numbers of the Covid-vaccinated ‘may need a heart transplant’ to avoid a sudden cardiac arrest.”

The post cites a page on the Cleveland Clinic’s website about myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle that can make it more difficult for the heart to pump. While the page discusses COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines, it doesn’t make the claims stated in the blog post. 

Here’s what the Cleveland Clinic’s website does say: 

• Researchers estimate there are 1.5 million cases of myocarditis in the world each year. 

• About 50% to 80% of people with viral myocarditis survive five years or more after diagnosis, and “many people, especially younger people, recover fully.” 

• Myocarditis can lead to complications, such as dilated cardiomyopathy, a condition where the heart becomes enlarged and weak that can eventually lead to heart failure and may require a heart transplant. 

• Sudden cardiac death is a possible complication of myocarditis, and myocarditis is linked to nearly 20% of sudden deaths in young people.

• Young people who received COVID-19 vaccines developed myocarditis “in rare cases.” 

We asked the clinic about the blog post. In a statement, it said: “Recent claims suggesting that the COVID-19 vaccine will lead to myocarditis and mass deaths are false and lack any scientific basis. Research has shown that contracting the COVID-19 virus is a greater risk factor for heart-related complications, including myocarditis, than the vaccine.”

We rate this post False.