Social media and Damar Hamlin’s Collapse combine to create a vaccine misinformation field day
“Social media and Damar Hamlin’s Collapse combine creating a vaccine misinformation field day“, Fortune, Ali Swenson, David Klepper, Sophia Tulp and The Associated Press
“Unfounded claims about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines proliferated in the hours and days after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed during Monday’s game, revealing how pervasive vaccine misinformation remains three years after the pandemic began.
Even before Hamlin was carried off the field in Cincinnati, posts were amassing thousands of shares and millions of views. Their circulation online claiming without evidence complications from COVID-19 vaccines caused his health emergency.”
I have not read what the diagnosis has been other than being a rare affliction. Damar appears to be doing better after emergency care was applied. The Fortune article is from January 5, 2023.
“Interviewed by The Associated Press, Physicians say there is no indication Hamlin’s vaccine status played a role. They also asserted there is no evidence to support claims that a number of young athletes have died as a result of COVID vaccinations.
Dallas cardiologist and outspoken vaccine critic, Peter McCullough amplified such theories on a Fox News segment hosted by Tucker Carlson on Tuesday. His speculation was Hamlin’s episode may have resulted from a ‘vaccine-induced myocarditis.’ The Bills then did not reveal whether Hamlin was vaccinated or not. About 95% of NFL players have received a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the league.”
At this point I am stopping on the Fortune article and moving on to a commentary by a sports figure who claims no healthcare expertise. Instead, he challenges Charlie’s and Tucker’s baloney-making soliloquies in that they should remain silent on the topic for which they have false and purposeful misleading knowledge.
Kareem Abdul Jabbar calling out Charlie Kirk and Tucker Carlson. The two-time Finals MVP wrote, “For the Two Horsemen of the Apocalypse, (Charlie) Kirk and (Tucker) Carlson, exploiting human misery for personal gain is just good business.”
A sad and dangerous trend has set in the last few years in which conservative commentators wishing to grab headlines that translate into followers and viewers (which translates into money) will make outrageous and unsubstantiated claims fueling medical mistrust. Even though such mistrust can result in people not getting vaccines and therefore becoming seriously ill or dying or infecting others who get sick or die. They don’t care. To them, the people who actually listen to them are just faceless marks to be exploited—in fact, they think these people deserve to be exploited for believing their nonsense.
What is disturbing is the use of what they would bill as a “scientific expert” to make their case, but then the dismissal of the overwhelming number of legitimate scientists and medical experts who reject their lone and discredited source.
Kareem then discusses Tucker’s use of Cardiologist Peter McCullough who speculates “without examining Hamlin, that Damar Hamlin might have ‘vaccine-induced myocarditis.’” Just toss your garbage up in the air and don’t worry about where it lands or the impact. Tucker’s followers will believe them in spite of the smell. Back to Kareem.
Dr. Matthew Martinez, director of sports cardiology at Atlantic Health System in Morristown Medical Center, dismissed this:
“It’s not real research, but he (McCullough) quotes it as if it’s real research. Anybody can write a letter to the editor and then quote an article that has no academic rigor.”
Videos on social media claim to show athletes collapsing—but several prove to be from other causes. In fact, cardiologists have indicated that there has been no upturn in athletes collapsing on the field since the implementation of COVID-19 vaccines. The reason some people think there are more now is because they are looking for them in order to confirm their bias.
Charlie Kirk, whose absurd logic I’ve pointed out before, is an influential conservative in charge of “Turning Point USA.” Kirk tweeted to his 1.9 followers that athletes dropping suddenly had become an “all too familiar sight.” Seventeen hours later he reported:
“For committing the crime of noticing that athletes are tragically collapsing on the playing field, I have been labeled ‘human garbage’… Paying attention yet?”
Again, the logic here is so middle school that I’m surprised he’s not too embarrassed to make it public. First, how many athletes were collapsing before COVID-19 vaccines? Second, what are all the potential causes for them collapsing. You know, SCIENCE. Also, he isn’t really asking a question—that’s a grifter trick to pretend you’re being objective—because his intent is to imply a conclusion that leaps over all logic and science: vaccine bad. The “human garbage” label is not for his bold journalistic investigation, but for his smarmy, unsupported implication to pander to his followers’ prejudices. At a time when the country is facing an epidemic of flu, COVID-19, and respiratory illness filling our hospitals, especially children’s hospitals, what should you call someone who encourages vaccine hesitancy with no legitimate medical support? How many hospitalizations and deaths might he be responsible for?
For the Two Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Kirk and Carlson, exploiting human misery for personal gain is just good business.
“Tucker C. Exploits Damar Hamlin,” Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, (substack.com)
Kareem has always called them like he sees them. I remember years ago he noted that the NBA had a number of “ thugs” playing and that a number of them would be in prison or dead if not for basketball. On the subject at hand, I recall a time after Len Bias collapsed and died where it was assumed that young athletes who died were doing cocaine. I certainly understood that medical science had pretty much agreed that what felled Hamlin was a rare occurrence where a blow to the chest at just the right time in a heartbeat caused the electrical system to short circuit. I heard one doctor say it might happen to 200 people annually in the US— rare indeed. Perhaps this is just a narrative being pushed by NFL— Hamlin would almost certainly have died if it had happened on the street— but my medically trained daughter knew all about the condition, agreed with the treatment and opined the night it happened that Hamlin would recover. I wonder how Kirk and Carlson explain his recovery from the “ vaccine induced” cardiac arrest?
Increased risk of cardiac problems, particularly among younger males, is a known issue with at least the mRNA vaccines. I have no idea why Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest, but it is not a crazy hypothesis that if he had been vaccinated with mRNA that it possibly contributed to his collapse. Considering that limited value to a young, fit individual, I do think a public discussion of the incidence of cardiac problems is all to the good. In our media and social media environments it is kind of hard to have that in a way that every consumer of the media finds reasonable. Throw it out there fast seems to be the paradigm, as Nicholas Sandman might confirm.
I have 3 sons 13 or younger and none will receive these vaccines (my daughter won’t either) until their utility and/or safety improves or the underlying infection registers as more threatening for their ages. I accept that others will take a different view and do not mean to impugn their view of the circumstances. But yes, were I asked by a young adult or another parent of young children I would recommend not accepting these vaccines pending more experience with them. My elderly father-in-law was recently at the VA and was told that the booster they wanted to give him was still under Emergency Use conditions. Not sure which it was (Pfizer or Moderna) but I was kind of shocked hearing this. Can this be accurate? Maybe he misheard or misunderstood something.
Eric:
Not sure when your father-in-law went to the VA. So it may have been approved for general access now. Anway, these shots are free and he could go to a drug store to obtain and skip the VA. Some reading.
I can not afford to be around those who believe these shots do not work or are dangerous. I am compromised and probably due to my tour of duty. I will tell you one thing; more Republicans are dying because Tucker Carlson raises these false narratives. I wonder if he is inoculated.
There is value, not limited, for younger people to be vaccinated too. There is the danger of Long Covid which lingers and can reside in vital organs such as the heart. I believe the science to this and as Joel can vouch for is far superior to Tucker’s made up nonsense. He has no credibility in comparison to Joel’s background.
FDA authorizes Pfizer’s and Moderna’s updated Covid booster shots
I can not afford to be around those who believe these shots do not work or are dangerous….
[ This is a very important remark, with which I completely agree. This relates to a range of vaccines that have radically changed the ways in which we can live relatively healthy lives from childhood on. ]
https://www.aap.org/en/pages/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-infections/children-and-covid-19-state-level-data-report/
January 9, 2023
Cumulative Number of Child COVID-19 Cases
As of January 5, over 15.2 million children are reported to have tested positive for COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic according to available state reports. About 162,000 of these cases have been added in the past 4 weeks. This week almost 31,200 child COVID-19 cases were reported. This is a small decrease from the previous week, but likely an undercount that increased during the holidays, for example some states had not updated data on their web sites at the time of this analysis.
15,239,453 total child COVID-19 cases reported, and children represented 18.1% (15,239,453 / 84,123,431) of all cases
Overall rate: 20,247 cases per 100,000 children in the population
American Academy of Pediatrics
Children’s Hospital Association
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
January 11, 2023
Coronavirus
United States
Cases ( 103,308,876)
Deaths ( 1,123,466)
Deaths per million ( 3,356)
Arizona
Cases ( 2,391,895)
Deaths ( 32,503)
Deaths per million ( 4,465)