Elon Musk came under fire on Tuesday after the billionaire mogul tweeted and speculated on a possible connection between the COVID-19 vaccine and the cardiac arrest suffered by Bronny James, the 18-year-old son of NBA megastar LeBron James.
Bronny James High School Highlights | Home Team Hoops
Musk, who has previously come under criticism for spreading misinformation on Twitter over COVID-19 vaccines, responded to a tweet about the Bronny James news with a statement about the vaccine. He has been – since the treatment’s inception – often highly skeptical and sometimes downright critical of most accepted medical information.
Instead, the tech giant offered his own take, and it followed along the same lines as one offered by many others. In the wake of the COVID crisis, the consensus cure might have had an adverse effect on its patients. In particular, many young athletes have fallen victim to mysterious, random ailments, which have added fuel to the fire of conspiracy theorists.
Musk himself waded into those same waters on Wednesday. Albeit, more cautiously than some maybe gave him credit for.
TWITTER: @ElonMusk
“We cannot ascribe everything to the vaccine, but, by the same token, we cannot ascribe nothing,” Musk wrote in response to the Bronny James’ reports. “Myocarditis is a known side-effect. The only question is whether it is rare or common.”
While there are strong proponents of medications like Maderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, there are just as many on the other side of that argument. Even beyond the typical, anti-vaxxer community, even average Americans have suspected that there could be dangerous aftershocks from the injections.
At the same time, many medical studies have been conducted regarding a link between patients and potentially harmful or lethal side effects. There haven’t been many conclusive findings, which has prompted the ‘get the jab’ crowd to declare victory when it comes to vaccines. At the same time, staunch opponents of Dr. Anthony Faucci, and established skeptics like Monk, refuse to declare anything close to a unanimous agreement on the topic. At least… not yet.
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Fact-checkers immediately jumped all over Musk’s statements. They quickly pointed out all the other factors that could have been the source of Bronny James’ cardiac arrest, which took place during a USC team workout. So, to be fair, it very well could have been a case of fatigue, dehydration, or a combination of a million medical maladies that contributed to the emergency.
So, the social debate began to rage, with anti-vaxxers taking one side in the battle in defense of Musk’s conjecture. On the other? Lay plenty of digital diagnosis shooting back in the opposite direction.
But Musk may have made a calculated error in his stance when Twitter (or ‘X’, as it’s now trying to be known) deleted a response to his statement. In a reply filled with physical facts, someone countered the kingpin’s claim. And it disappeared, leaving critics to give it the old ‘I-told-you-so’ in response.
TWITTER: @eelarson
Whether you agree with Elon Musk or not, the rise of these incidents among young athletes like Bronny James is cause for concern. And the fact that COVID and its accompanying treatment have become such a polarizing issue in America today has only illuminated the issue.
All of this leaves many wondering; Is this all a coincidence? The fault of vaccines? Or even worse… something we don’t even know anything about yet?
While we may dislike the questions and even despise those who ask them, the search for answers to those questions must continue. For Bronny James, and any other young star who could potentially be at risk.
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