During a regularly scheduled Monday Night Football game between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals, Bills safety Damar Hamlin was transported off the field via ambulance following a sudden collapse.
After completing what appeared to be a routine tackle, Hamlin — a 24-year-old Pennsylvania native who was drafted by the Bills in 2021 — abruptly collapsed roughly halfway through the game’s first quarter. Within minutes, on-the-field health officials administered CPR to the Bills safety and gave him oxygen before he was transported to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.
According to ESPN, Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest and had his heartbeat restarted on the field before being taken away in the ambulance. He currently remains sedated and in critical condition at the hospital.
The incident has prompted the NFL to indefinitely postpone the game, in which the Bengals led 7-3.
What We Know
Since the Monday night tragedy, speculation has rippled across social media about the root cause of Hamlin’s collapse.
Was it the force of the hit? Did Hamlin receive the Covid jab and was it a contributing factor? Or did Hamlin catch Covid and have it weaken his heart? The simple answer is that we don’t know anything concrete at this point.
Among the more common theories cycling throughout the media is that commotio cordis contributed to Hamlin’s cardiac arrest. Such a phenomenon occurs when “a blow to the chest over the region of the heart by a blunt object” causes a “concussion of the heart.” But the situation remains speculative.
What we do know, however, is that Hamlin is far from the only young and healthy athlete to suffer sudden cardiac-related problems over the past few years.
Just last month, a former tight end for the University of Central Florida’s football team died suddenly at the age of 25 after going into cardiac arrest while out on a jog. Separately, a 21-year-old Greek soccer player abruptly died after going into cardiac arrest during a match early last year.
Similar cardiac-related incidents have been reported among other soccer players and high-profile athletes.
Despite the lack of acknowledgment from America’s legacy media and government health “experts,” we also know there are documented side effects pertaining to the Covid shots. Back in October, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo released an analysis detailing “an 84% increase in the relative incidence of cardiac-related death among males 18-39 years old within 28 days following mRNA vaccination.”
As of the result of the study’s findings, Ladapo’s office updated its guidance on the shots, now recommending they not be given to 18-39-year-old males.
In addition to Florida, countries such as Germany, France, and Denmark, among several others, “have all restricted the distribution of the Moderna Covid shots for individuals under the age of 30,” with all of them “citing the documented risk of heart inflammation among young people as justification.”
It Isn’t a Crime to Ask Questions
None of this is to definitively conclude that Hamlin’s collapse or those of the other aforementioned athletes were related to the Covid jabs. As previously mentioned, there is currently no verifiable evidence to confirm such an assertion.
But it’s hard not to notice that the voices shunning questions about the jab’s potential side effects and these athletes’ injuries are the same ones who shunned questions about any aspect of the government’s unscientific Covid response.
Whether it’s been over the efficacy of masks, lockdowns, or natural immunity, health “experts” and their media acolytes have repeatedly dismissed any and all challenges to their policies as “conspiracy theories.” Officials such as Anthony Fauci have gone even further, proclaiming that anyone who criticizes his Covid guidance is “actually criticizing science.”
Even if Hamlin’s injury had nothing to do with the Covid vaccine, which very well may be the case, what’s telling is how quickly people have swooped in with faux virtue to smear anyone wondering when we’ll be allowed to talk about the rise in healthy young athletes experiencing freak cardiac issues. What we know about Hamlin’s injury hasn’t proved anything about Covid shots yet, but the scornful pushback against asking simple questions has proved a lot about the fragile, authoritarian bent of our intellectual police and the people who mindlessly parrot them.
(Look no further than America’s left-wing, corporate press, members of which celebrated reports of unvaccinated Americans dying from Covid.)
So, while we should absolutely pray for Hamlin in his time of need, we also shouldn’t be afraid to demand transparency when so many innocent lives are at risk.
Shawn Fleetwood is a Staff Writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He also serves as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
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