Young football players continue to die suddenly

Eighteen-year-old high school football star Chance Gainer died unexpectedly during a game Friday.

Gainer, an honors student and wide receiver at Port St. Joe High School in Florida, was running on the field when he suddenly collapsed.

“He just went to the ground suddenly,” said Port St. Joe High School Athletic Director and Vice Principal Tim Davis. Paramedics rushed Gainer to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. WESH reported that Gainer’s teammates were told of his death immediately after the game ended.

“The scene was heartbreaking. Parents came down on the field to comfort their kids. Such a helpless feeling,” Davis said.

According to one report, Gainer had suffered an unexplained heart attack. That would make him the fifth high school football player to die suddenly over the last month from heart issues, according to figures from the National Federation of State High School Associations.

Calls to expand health screenings

Health advocates have been calling for sports authorities to start screening athletes for heart issues resulting from the COVID-19 vaccine.

Last year, the medical rights group Health Freedom Defense Fund sent a letter to the National Football League Player Association (NFLPA) pressuring the labor union to begin screening athletes for myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) or pericarditis (swelling of the tissue surrounding the heart).

The letter came after a string of cardiac events involving former and current NFL players and cited several studies showing or suggesting a link between the COVID-19 injections and cardiac events. They also include a large-scale study that found that myocarditis and pericarditis are not linked to COVID-19 itself.

In addition, the letter noted that “although certain health officials have downplayed the dangers of myocarditis, up until its identification as a side effect from COVID-19 injections, the condition had always been considered extremely serious.”

“As such, we are requesting that NFLPA commence a testing and screening program to determine whether players have been adversely affected by the injections and to develop a set of functional medical protocols and treatments in order to address and heal any deleterious effects of the vaccines. In addition, NFLPA should implement a program for long-term surveillance of treatments and recovery,” continued the Health Freedom Defense Fund, offering to recommend physicians to advise on the initiative.

Over 2,000 cardiac arrests in athletes since COVID-19 vaccine

A report last year from Good Sciencing found that there have been at least 2,112 cardiac arrests or “serious issues” among athletes around the world since the introduction of the COVID-19 injections. According to a recent analysis of news reports from January 2021 through December 2023, 1,474 out of the 2,112 athletes who suffered cardiac arrests died, an average of nearly 500 athletes annually. Over half of these appear to have occurred among football players.  

Previous data show that sudden cardiac death (SCD) among athletes under 35, now described as a “well-known occurrence,” was much lower. According to a study by the International Olympic Committee over a period of 38 years (1966–2004), 1,101 athletes under 35 suffered SCD, an average of 29 per year. Incidents were most prevalent in soccer and basketball.

Five-fold increase after vaccine rollout

Other recent reports have shown a disturbing increase in cardiac events among athletes. A 2021 analysis from Israeli publication Real-Time News reported a five-fold increase in sudden cardiac and unexplained deaths among FIFA players that year alone. 

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