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.
Over the last several months, antivaxxers have been claiming that COVID-19 vaccines cause “turbo cancer”, cancers (or cancer recurrences) of a particularly aggressive and fast-growing variety diagnosed in younger and younger patients. “Turbo cancer” is not a thing, and the evidence cited is as weak as any antivax “evidence”, including anecdotes and misinterpretation of epidemiology.
Since long before the pandemic,antivaxxers have fantasized about Nuremberg-like tribunals (a “Nuremberg 2.0, if you will) to punish vaccine advocates. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is now giving them their wish.
After using old antivax tropes against COVID-19 vaccines, antivaxxers are pivoting to reuse them to attack measles vaccines again. Everything old is new again—and old again.
