Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome, or SADS, has been studied for decades and is caused by genetic heart problems. But social media posts suggest, with no evidence, that SADS is related to COVID-19 vaccines.

Anti-vaccine commentators and conservative politicians have been sharing a tabloid story about a medical condition that has nothing to do with COVID-19 vaccines. But they’re baselessly suggesting that there is a connection.

The headline on the June 8 story from the British publication the Daily Mail said: “Healthy young people are dying suddenly and unexpectedly from a mysterious syndrome – as doctors seek answers through a new national register.”

There are some things to straighten out first, which we’ll explain in more detail below:

The story was about Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome, or SADS, which is not new.

It incorrectly referred to SADS as “Sudden Adult Death Syndrome.”

It claimed that there was a “new national register” for SADS cases in Australia, but the tracking program it referred to is based in one Australian state and it began in 2019.

The story didn’t say anything about vaccines. But Candace Owens, a conservative commentator who has been vocal about her opposition to the COVID-19 vaccines, shared the story with her 5.4 million Facebook followers with a message that said, “Just wanted to publicly state that my children are and will remain completely unvaccinated and that I truly wish my parents had made different decisions for me.” She then wrote, “In other news— have you read about how young adults are dying suddenly and it’s a complete mystery to doctors as to why that’s happening?”

Mindy Robinson, another conservative commentator who has frequently posted dubious claims about COVID-19 vaccines, alsoposted the story on Facebook. She wrote: “Young people are dropping dead and dying in their sleep for ‘no reason’ according to ‘experts’ just like we’ve said they’ve been doing since the unrolling out of that experimental injection (that cannot be mentioned by name negatively on Facebook.)” 

Robinson, who is currently running for state assembly in Nevada as a Libertarian, was likely referring to Facebook’s policy aimed at discouraging misinformation about the vaccines and its partnership with fact-checkers who write about and correct false and misleading claims.

Likewise, Indiana state Rep. John Jacob, who won his seat in 2020 and has been critical of COVID-19 vaccination mandates, shared a link to the story and emphasized the headline. His postasked, “From global warming? What’s your guess?” The comments to Jacob’s post included dozens of variations on, “Covid vaccine.”

Similarly suggestive posts have been spreading in several languages on social media, including claims made in Swedish, Dutch and Polish.

Genetic Conditions Cause SADS

There is no link between SADS and COVID-19 vaccines, experts told us.