Heart complications aren’t yet a ‘listed’ symptom of omicron variant

Very little is yet known about the omicron variant of the coronavirus, which was identified in November.

Yet an article widely shared on Facebook claims that heart complications are reported as a "listed" symptom — and that what’s really going on is an attempt to cover up cardiac deaths caused by the COVID-19 vaccines.

The article was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

Heart complications are not a "listed" symptom of omicron. And we found no evidence to support the claim of a cover-up.

It’s not yet known what potential omicron has to cause serious illness. The early reports about omicron are that its symptoms are mild.

Heart complications associated with the COVID-19 vaccines are potentially serious, but rare.

The omicron variant rapidly overtook the previous reigning variant, delta, in parts of southern Africa in November. As we’ve reported, it will take a few weeks to know for sure whether omicron is significantly more transmissible and whether it causes worse illness.

On Nov. 28, two days after declaring omicron a "variant of concern," the World Health Organization said that "the likelihood of potential further spread of omicron at the global level is high," but that there are "considerable uncertainties."

Those uncertainties include "how well vaccines protect against infection, transmission, clinical disease of different degrees of severity and death; and does the variant present with a different severity profile."

The U.S. government made its "variant of concern" declaration on Nov. 30.

On Dec. 1, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that the first U.S. omicron case was identified in California in a traveler who returned from South Africa on Nov. 22. The person was fully vaccinated and had mild symptoms that are improving, the agency said.

The article we’re checking appears on a website called Alberta Nationals, which offers anti-vaccine content. The headline is: "Symptoms of the Omicron Variant Used To Cover Up Effects of Covid Vaccines." 

The article goes on to claim that "one of the symptoms listed" for omicron is "heart-related complications," including heart failure, arrhythmias, heart inflammation and blood clots.

"This happens to be one of the primary negative effects of the COVID vaccines among men especially, which has led to a five-fold increase in sudden and unexplained cardiac deaths in FIFA (soccer) players in 2021. … It looks like bureaucrats are already using the omicron variant to disguise the rapid increase in sudden and unexplained cardiac deaths in the vaccinated, just as they did with the delta variant," the article states. 

We’ve fact-checked similar claims about athletes experiencing cardiac symptoms because of the vaccine and found them unsupported. 

Dr. Angelique Coetzee of South Africa, who is credited as being among the first physicians to discover the omicron variant, has said in news interviews that its symptoms are mild.

Coetzee told CNN that extreme fatigue is the primary symptom and that other symptoms include a scratchy throat and a dry cough. She told Reuters the symptoms could be treated at home. She told The Telegraph that symptoms in patients she treated with the new variant "were so different and so mild from those I had treated before," though she was worried it could hit unvaccinated older people with illnesses such as diabetes or heart disease much harder.

She made no mention of omicron causing heart problems.

We weren’t able to reach her.

Other experts say it’s too early to fully understand the symptoms or severity of infection from the omicron variant.

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Ben Cowling, an epidemiologist at the University of Hong Kong, said in a National Geographic interview: "There's not enough information available yet to make a conclusion about the severity of omicron in comparison to other variants."

Dr. Matthew Laurens of the Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, reiterated how little is known about omicron.

"We are still in the very early stages of characterizing the omicron variant. I have not yet seen reports of cardiac complications associated with omicron," he told PolitiFact. 

"At the same time, we know that SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with cardiac complications including myocarditis, and this is consistent with what many other viral infections can do. SARS-CoV-2 can also cause vascular inflammation and cardiac arrhythmias. I would expect that the omicron variant acts like other variants of SARS-CoV-2 regarding potential risk for cardiac complications."

COVID-19 vaccines have been associated with certain heart problems, but these are rare. 

Cases of heart inflammation (myocarditis and pericarditis) have been reported after vaccination with the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, according to the CDC.

The CDC says that it’s actively monitoring reports of myocarditis and pericarditis after COVID-19 vaccination, but that most patients who received care for these conditions "responded well to medicine and rest and felt better quickly."

Experts say that COVID-19 itself presents much more danger to the heart than vaccines do.

An article widely shared on Facebook claimed that heart complications are a "listed" symptom of the omicron variant of the coronavirus and are being "used to cover up effects" of COVID-19 vaccines.

Heart complications are not a "listed" symptom of omicron. And we found no evidence to support the claim of a cover-up.

Little is known about the variant, including its potential for causing serious disease. A South Africa doctor credited as being among the first to detect the variant has described its symptoms as mild. 

We rate the claim False.