DeSantis’ Surgeon General Ladapo PHOTO COURTESY OF WFSU

MIAMI, Fla. – Is the COVID-19 vaccine linked to cardiac arrest?

Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo believes so and recently posted his findings on X, previously known as Twitter.

But the American Heart Association and Pfizer, one of the makers of three vaccines that were approved by the Food and Drug Administration to stop the spread of the virus during the pandemic, dispute Ladapo’s assertion.

Strengthening his claim was NBA star Lebron James’ son, USC freshmen Bronny James and another Trojans basketball player, Vince Iwchukwu, both suffered cardiac arrest during basketball practice and had to be resuscitated.

James’ medical emergency occurred last month and Iwchukwu collapsed last summer.

According to Ladapo, James and Iwchukwu were forced or misled into receiving the COVID-19 vaccine before they could step foot on the basketball court for practice.

Ladapo said he discovered a Swiss study along with state data that also support his claim.

While the Swiss study found vaccinerelated heart issues are more common than previously thought, it also said the problems were "mild and transient," and found more frequently in women versus men.

Over 200 million people have received a COVID-19 vaccination in the United States from 2020 to May 2023.

Some people reportedly experienced side effects including shortness of breath, chest pain, headaches or blurred vision and vomiting, all common symptoms of a heart attack or stroke.

But the American Heart Association and Pfizer disputed their claim, saying the vaccines are not linked to cardiac arrest or any other illnesses.

They suggested the most common side effects of the vaccine are pain, redness or swelling at the injection site, fatigue, headache or muscle pain, chills or fever and nausea.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 966 people nationwide had died after having the Pfizer or Moderna COVID vaccines between Dec. 14, 2020 and February 19, 2021

The report showed the largest proportion of deaths, 29 percent, occurred in people ages 80 to 89.

It also showed males constituted 55 percent of deaths to 43 percent of females, the deaths had occurred between 0 and 49 days after vaccination, with 94 unknown.

But the report doesn’t state if the deaths were linked to cardiac arrest or any other natural causes.

In Florida, 63 percent of the white population received the vaccine, 45 percent for Blacks and 73 percent for Hispanics, as of July 2022.

Blacks were drying at a faster rate than whites and Hispanics during the height of the pandemic in 2020.

But the New York Times reported that the majority of Fla.’s COVID-19-related deaths took place after vaccines were readily available to all adults.

University of South Florida epidemiologist Jason Salemi said only scientists can determine if there’s a link between the vaccine and acute illness like cardiac arrest.

"If somebody dies of cancer tomorrow, it’s inevitable that some of those people will have recently been vaccinated," he said responding to Ladapo’s claim "The key is, we need to make sure before we speculate that it’s due to the COVID-19 vaccines, we need to do our research and look and see if it actually is."

Ladapo’s report comes amid a recent surge in COVID-19 cases.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, cases nationwide commenced to rise again during a three-month span to 12.5 percent.

In Fla., reported COVID-19 cases rose from 5,607 new cases in May to 9,942 in July, a 77 percent increase.

But so far local doctors say the conditions of most COVID-19 patients are not severe compared to the previous waves.