Editor’s note: Jonathan Reiner, MD, is a medical analyst for CNN and professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University. The views expressed in this commentary belong to the author.see more opinion on CNN.
CNN
—
Buffalo Bills safety Dummer Hamlin’s survival and recovery after collapsing during last Monday night’s football game was gratifying, but it is also very real and requires emergency cardiopulmonary resuscitation. It shows the importance and importance of rapid defibrillation during the critical first few minutes after surgery. Sudden cardiac arrest. But while Hamlin’s near-death experience traumatized his family, teammates, the NFL, and millions of people who witnessed his struggle live on television, for others, it was the vaccine fake. It was nothing more than a great opportunity to spread the word.
Click here if you don’t know how to do CPR
In the first quarter of the game, the Cincinnati Bengals led the Bills, 7-3, with Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins at catch a short pass From quarterback Joe Burrow. Hamlin sprinted towards him and met Higgins at the 50-yard line, Higgins lowered his right shoulder and Hamlin spread his arms for the tackle. As they collided, Hamlin’s left chest absorbed Higgins’ blow and both players went down.
To those watching the game, it looked like routine play.
The ensuing televised effort to save the 24-year-old’s life was heroic but difficult to watch, culminating in minutes (what seemed an eternity) after an ambulance evacuated the scene. Did.
While ESPN’s stunned commentators and fans around the world tried to make sense of what they had just witnessed, the internet erupted in a blizzard of unsubstantiated rumors.
Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was quick to parrot the baseless anti-vaccine conspiracy theory. Tweet“This is a tragic, all-too-familiar sight by now. An athlete suddenly falls.” This tweet has been viewed nearly 12 million times.
Dr. David Drew Pinsky (also known as “Dr. Drew”) is an internist and television personality. murmured In similar words, “I’m so uneasy. Another athlete who suddenly fell.
The tweet didn’t mention the Covid-19 vaccine outright, but the implications were clear.
Former New York Times columnist Prolific Vaccine Opponent Alex Berenson wrote to substack The next day, he said, “When I saw the video of what happened, I think my reaction beyond fear for Hamlin’s life was the same as most of you. Was Dummer Hamlin in cardiac arrest? Final It was the mRNA vaccine that probably caused the myocarditis and left him vulnerable.”
Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green murmured: “Before we had a vaccine for the new coronavirus, we had never seen athletes fall and die on the playing field like we do now…how many people are dying suddenly? Covid vaccine It’s time to investigate.”
During the pandemic, right-wing press outlets and celebrities have repeatedly questioned the safety of the Covid-19 mRNA vaccine, fueling the baseless claims of vaccine skeptics. On Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show, the night after Hamlin collapsed, Dr. Peter McCullough, a Dallas cardiologist and vocal critic of Covid-19 vaccines, said that “vaccine-induced myocarditis” was Hamlin’s episode. suggested that it may have caused
carlson told his audience, “Hamlin is still lying on the field, and self-proclaimed medical professionals in the media, people who show no medical ethics at all, effectively witch doctors, decide to use it as an opportunity to further spread his tragic life-threatening injuries. I was getting CPR when I did more publicity about Covid shots.”It couldn’t have been shot,” they told you. ‘Noisy. ‘ But they are lying. they don’t know that. ”
Within the same program Carlson hinted Athletes are dying because of the Covid-19 vaccine, “Since the vax campaign began, there have been more than 1,500 total cardiac arrests in these leagues, two-thirds of which have been fatal,” he said. claimed.
those statistics Death of Athletepromoted by Carlson, was quoted from a letter published in a Scandinavian magazine.
This isn’t the first time the tragedy has been used to promote Covid-19 vaccine disinformation.In December, after the sudden death of football journalist Grant Wall, social media blamed his wife for Wall’s death. It was fueled by cruel and false rumors that it was caused by a vaccine proposed by Dr. Celine Gounder.
Later, an autopsy in New York revealed that Wall had died of an unrelated aortic aneurysm rupture.
As Gowner later said in an editorial that she Contributed to The New York Timesshe wanted to share the truth about her husband’s cause of death to quash rumors that it was the result of the Covid-19 vaccine.
The truth is, there is no evidence to suggest athletes are dying from vaccines, and much is known about their safety. Over 650 million Covid-19 vaccinations has been administered in the United States and has a well-documented safety profile. Potential vaccine adverse events are Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).
According to Bills, Hamlin, who returned home from hospital earlier this week, underwent a “comprehensive medical evaluation.” there is no cause for his cardiac arrest It is open to the public. However, Hamlin’s cardiac arrest just seconds after absorbing Higgins’ hit was most likely the result of a “heart attack”. Named from the Latin word for “upset,” it is the result of a potentially fatal arrhythmia caused by trauma to the chest at a precise and vulnerable moment in the heart’s electrical cycle.
So why did Hamlin succeed? He was lucky to fall apart from a large crew of trained medical responders.
Reportedly, when Hamlin first woke up in the hospital, he asked, “Who won?” now we know. Hamlin won.
