*Retired boxing legend, Thomas “Hitman” Hearns is going at anti-vaxxers who are using his comments to co-opt the death of Marvin Hagler. That’s because before Hagler passed away on Saturday at 66, Hearns posted to his followers that Hagler was suffering from “the after effects of the vaccine.”
However, there’s been no announcement of the official cause of death and his family have made no mention of a Covid vaccine being to blame.
As we reported earlier, Hagler’s son James told TMZ his father was rushed to hospital with chest pains and was experiencing trouble breathing before dying about four hours later.
Earlier on Saturday, Hearns wrote on Instagram alongside a picture of his old opponent: “A real true warrior Pray for the king and his family.. he’s in ICU fighting the after effects of the vaccine! He’ll be just fine but we could use the positive energy and Prayer for his Full Recovery!”
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That was all the anti-vaxxers needed to see before heading to social media to say that it was proof that vaccines are unsafe.
But on Saturday night, Hearns hit out at anti-vax campaigners, posting on Instagram:
“Our love and respect to Marvin and his family, this is not an anti vaccine campaign.. it’s outrageous to have that in mind during the passing of a King, Legend, Father, Husband and so much more.”
With no mention of any vaccine, Hagler’s wife, Kay G. Hagler, wrote on Facebook:
“I am sorry to make a very sad announcement. Today unfortunately my beloved husband Marvelous Marvin passed away unexpectedly at his home here in New Hampshire. Our family requests that you respect our privacy during this difficult time.”
Also, a statement on Hagler’s website made no mention of of any vaccine. It read: ‘We are very sad to report that Marvelous Marvin Hagler died on March 13 of natural causes near his home in New Hampshire. He was a champion until the end. His family asks for privacy at this time of sorrow.’
So far, more than 100million Americans have already received their COVID vaccines, including 4.6m on Saturday alone and there have been no announcements of any deaths caused by the vaccine. However, the roll-out is being slowed down by vaccine hesitancy, which remains higher in some ethnic minority groups, including among African Americans.
The US Center for Disease control describes the approved COVID vaccines as “safe and effective” with severe side effects being “extremely rare.”
But reality and facts mean nothing to anti-vaxxers who wasted no time connecting Hagler’s death to their unfounded claims that the vaccine is dangerous.
An account called Noble Brown posted: “The vaccine killed Marvin Hagler.”
Another user tweeted: “Re Marvin Hagler. The msn covid Game, if a high profile celebrity dies of covid its front page news, if it’s due to the vaccine they don’t even mention it. They use covid to keep us petrified.”
Meanwhile, Phil Theecow wrote: “It’s filtering through that boxer Marvin has died aged 66 of an adverse reaction to his Covid vaccination… I like many haves [sic] had the virus and was 1 of the 99% with no problems… Therefore why on earth would I take the vaccine that may kill me & I know the virus wont.”
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