Moments after Buffalo Bills defensive back Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field after making a tackle on 2 January, Covid-19 conspiracy theorists and right-wing personalities baselessly blamed his injuries on vaccine side effects.
Anti-vaccine influencers and right-wing media figures have also shared debunked claims about athletes allegedly collapsing after their vaccinations.
Mr Hamlin remains in critical condition after suffering a cardiac arrest, according to a statement on 3 January from the Bills team. His heartbeat was restored “on the field and he was transferred to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center for further testing and treatment,” the statement said.
On his programme that night, Fox News personality Tucker Carlson falsely stated that Mr Hamlin endured a “heart attack” and said medical experts who dismissed Covid-19-related conspiracy theories are “lying” and “witch doctors”.
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“What we don’t know could fill volumes,” he said. “We don’t know the answer and there is no way to know the answer.”
Baseless claims linking Mr Hamlin’s injury to Covid vaccinations also immediately appeared widely on other right-wing networks and across social media, including Twitter, where the platform’s new owner Elon Musk abandoned previous policies that prohibited the spread of Covid-related mis- and disinformation during the ongoing public health crisis.
