Republican Senator Ron Johnson is a frequent, outspoken critic of Covid 19 vaccines. It's certain to be an issue in his re-election campaign for a third term.
"In a recent radio interview, US Senator Ron Johnson was asked about adverse effects from the vaccine and he declared, we have heard story after story of all of these athletes dropping dead on the field," said Greg Borowski with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The CDC or Centers for Disease and Control saysreports of death after Covid 19 vaccination are rare.
Similar claims about athletes dying have been debunked multiple times by doctors, so PolitiFact Wisconsin asked Senator Johnson's office for evidence.
"They pointed us to one article as evidence and that was from the Daily Mail and it was about two European soccer players who had collapsed," said Borowski.
For starters, the article references two athletes, not "all these as athletes" as Johnson stated.
PolitiFact Wisconsin also says the the story makes two key points about the athletes from their doctors.
"The trouble is those doctors had said that the collapse was due to underlying heart conditions, not to do the vaccine," said Borowski. "And one of those players wasn't even vaccinated in the first place."
And here's the other key point about the two athletes, they didn't die.
"There's one other significant problem with that piece of evidence, and that is, both players are alive," said Borowski.
PolitiFact Wisconsin rated Johnson's claim False.
