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Damar Hamlin's Recovery Fuels Anti-Vaccine Conspiracy Theories

2023-01-30T13:58:42.386Z


Hamlin's cardiac arrest has been taken advantage of by people making false claims about the supposed dangers of COVID-19 vaccines. Her quick recovery is now generating more unfounded and even absurd speculation.


By Brandy Zadrozny -

NBC News

Proponents of anti-vaccine beliefs have claimed, without evidence, that the COVID-19 vaccine was responsible for Damar Hamlin's cardiac arrest, and this month have turned to a new conspiracy theory to explain his rapid recovery: that the United States player Buffalo Bills has been replaced by a double.

While it's an outlandish theory, it's generated so much attention that Bills quarterback Josh Allen had to address it on a podcast this week.

"That's stupid," he

said.

Damar Hamlin, player for the Buffalo Bills, in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on December 1, 2022. Greg M. Cooper / AP file

This recent conspiracy theory about Hamlin shows the lengths to which anti-vaccine activists will go to promote the false narrative that COVID-19 vaccines cause widespread injury and death, and highlights that an ever-widening audience is susceptible to believe even the most absurd misinformation.

Hamlin's cardiac arrest, which occurred on January 2 after a collision in a game against the Cincinnati Bengals, immediately sparked unfounded speculation that the vaccine was to blame.

This adds to an increasingly popular narrative among anti-immunization voices that many vaccinated people are dying unexpectedly.

[“This is just the beginning of the impact I want to have”: Damar Hamlin speaks for the first time in public after suffering a strike]

Twenty days after his collapse, Hamlin attended a playoff game against the Bengals.

Many people scrutinized the news coverage and online posts documenting his return to the stadium and

concluded that Hamlin's goggles and mask were a disguise.

They also said that the blurry shots were not due to a snow storm, but rather a cover-up.

After the game, tens of thousands of social media posts suggested that Hamlin was dead or his appearance had been faked in some way, according to Zignal Labs, a company that analyzes social media, livestreaming, traditional media, and media. online conversations.

Hashtags like #WhereIsDamarHamlin were trending on Twitter.

The notion that powerful forces control the world through, among other things, the careful deployment of body doubles is an old conspiracy theory.

In recent years, these theories have focused on figures such as President Joe Biden, former first lady Melania Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and pop star Avril Lavigne.

Damar Hamlin is discharged and will recover at home and with his team

Jan 11, 202300:19

Attributing any high-profile death or injury to a vaccine is a common tactic for movements that do not support immunization.

In December 2020, conspiracy theorists incorrectly concluded that a Tennessee nurse who fainted after receiving the vaccine was dead.

Two years later, that theory persists, despite numerous fact-checks and recent videos that have been posted on social media.

Similar campaigns have focused on people who died from causes unrelated to the vaccine.

The recent deaths of journalist Grant Wahl and ABC News producer Dax Tejera are a few examples.

["Did we win?": Damar Hamlin's question after waking up in the hospital where he has been in serious cardiac arrest]

But Hamlin's injury presented a unique opportunity for anti-vaccine activists to reach new audiences.

About 23 million people were watching the soccer game when the crash happened.

As a medical team attended to him, activists flooded social media with unsubstantiated claims blaming the vaccine for the incident.

Hamlin's injury came amid rising misinformation that attributes any recent death, without evidence, to vaccines.

Damar Hamlin leaves the Cincinnati hospital where he was hospitalized for cardiac arrest

Jan 10, 202300:17

Much of the misinformation came from a group of misinformers, including those who promote anti-vaccine beliefs, conspiracy theorists and podcasters.

Leading the campaign was Stew Peters, a right-wing podcaster and conspiracy theorist who made "He Died Suddenly," a video that incorrectly argues that people are dying en masse from vaccines.

in the recording it is stated that they were designed by a cabal that seeks to depopulate the planet.

Despite its failures being well documented, the video went viral.

On the alternative video platform Rumble, it amassed nearly 17 million views, and Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene endorsed the recording on Twitter.

The filmmakers have 261,000 followers on that social network where they request donations.

[Damar Hamlin shows “signs of improvement” but remains in critical condition, Buffalo Bills say]

Fox News host Tucker Carlson also amplified false theories such as the claim that vaccine-related cardiac arrests have increased among athletes.

Dallas cardiologist and anti-vaccine broadcaster Peter McCullough told Carlson's show that "vaccine-induced myocarditis" may have caused Hamlin's injury.

Neither Hamlin nor the Buffalo Bills responded to requests for comment.

As he continues his recovery, Hamlin tweeted a photo of himself standing in front of a mural painted in his honor.

As if he was responding to the conspiracy theory, he captioned the image with the word "Clone."

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Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2023-01-30

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