Dominican Basketball Player, 28, Dies of Heart Attack After Blaming COVID-19 Vaccine for Heart Problems

A Dominican basketball player has died after suffering a heart attack, after he had previously blamed heart issues on complications for the COVID-19 vaccine.

Óscar Cabrera Adames, 28, suffered a heart attack when undergoing a stress test at a health center in Santo Domingo, Dominican sports reporter Hector Gomez reported on Instagram.

The athlete was undergoing a stress test of his heart, a process where doctors monitor a person’s heart while they perform physically strenuous activity such as running on a treadmill.

Gomez reports that Adames had fainted during a game for the Spanish professional team Cantbasket in December 2021. 

It was later discovered Adames was suffering from myocarditis, an often-mild but occasionally deadly condition where the middle muscles of the heart’s wall becomes inflamed. The condition can be caused by viral infections, such as COVID-19.

Myocarditis is also a rare side effect of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. In 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned young men were at an increased risk of heart inflammation after receiving the shots.

However, cases of myocarditis related to the vaccine are extremely rare, occurring in 0.003% of people who are vaccinated in a study led by the Food and Drug Administration and published last year. Put another way: That’s 411 cases of myocarditis out of 15,148,369 people who were involved in the study.  Furthermore, a study published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation last year found COVID-19 itself is significantly more likely to cause the condition than the vaccine. The analysis—which looked at nearly 43 million people—found that people infected with COVID-19 before receiving vaccination were 11 times more at risk for developing myocarditis in the month after testing positive for the virus.

"It is important for the public to understand that myocarditis is rare, and the risk of developing myocarditis after a COVID-19 vaccine is also rare," Dr Nicholas Mills, chairman of cardiology at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, said last year.

"This risk should be balanced against the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccines in preventing severe COVID-19 infection. It is also crucial to understand who is at a higher risk for myocarditis and which vaccine type is associated with increased myocarditis risk."

A majority of myocarditis cases resolve without significant medical intervention. However, in rare cases it could be deadly. People with the condition are most at risk of a sudden heart attack or other sudden heart issues when performing intense physical activities.

In a Facebook comment, Adames blamed the shots for his sudden collapse in late 2021.

“I got a damn Myocarditis from taking a f***ing vaccine (I got 2 doses of Pfizer),” he wrote in a Facebook comment in January, the Daily Mail reports.

“And I knew it! Many people warned me. But guess what? It was compulsory or I couldn't work. I am an international professional athlete and I am playing in Spain. I have no health problem, nothing, not hereditary, no asthma, NOTHING!”

Adames played college basketball at Daytona State College in Central Florida. Gomez reports that he had also played across Latin America, including Colombia, Brazil and in his native Dominican Republic.

“The news of the death of Óscar Cabrera has left his teammates, coaching staff and fans of the Cantabrian team, and basketball in general, dismayed,” Cantbasket wrote in a statement translated from Spanish.

“The Cantabrian sports entity has communicated its most sincere condolences to Óscar's family and friends, as well as to all those who shared moments with this talented player.”