LeBron James’ son Bronny suffered a cardiac arrest. Unsurprisingly, antivaxxers claimed it was COVID-19 vaccines. Worse, Elon Musk agreed. Sadly, the “died suddenly” lie lives on.
Category: Sports
When Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed from an on-field cardiac arrest most likely due to chest trauma, antivaxxers quickly blamed COVID-19 vaccines. The reason was a particularly nasty preexisting variant of the “died suddenly” myth in which athletes are dropping dead from the vaccine. They aren’t.
On Monday, Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest after a tackle. The most likely diagnosis is commotio cordis, cardiac arrest after chest trauma. That didn’t stop antivaxxers from undergoing all-too-familiar contortions to blame it on vaccines.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has COVID-19. He claimed to be “immunized,” but it turns out that he had used a “homeopathic immunization” instead of a real COVID-19 vaccine. Surprise! It didn’t work.
This week, eminent young rising star oncologist Dr. Vinay Prasad once again expressed his disdain for skeptics. To borrow Dr. Prasad’s own metaphor, Orac shows how the esteemed oncologist’s renewed attack on medical skeptics is like dunking on a 7′ hoop. Unfortunately, it needs to be done, and Orac does it, refuting a truly ignorant and misguided attack.