we are currently recommending it. i don t have any reservations. the data analysis, in my mind, strong regards to the safety of this and the potential benefit related to the vaccine. so, i think usc should be commended for their emergency action plan and their utility of cpr. the message behind this is that you can t predict it. but when it happens, you better be ready. you work with the players association, nba, nhl, nfl, major league soccer. in this context, lebron james himself has been extremely vocal about wanting to play in the nba with bronny. here s what he said. i got to be on the floor with bronny. obviously you re not treating him so you re not able to give a definitive answer. but do you think that could still be possible given what has happened?
yesterday. the statement from his family says the medical staff were able to treat bronny on the scene and to take him to a hospital. for more on this, i m joined by cnn sports analyst christine brennan. what more can you tell us about this very scary incident and about bronny james? yes, wolf, it was yesterday morning at usc. he is an incoming freshman at the university of southern california, one of the highest ranked of the young incoming freshman class, mcdonald s s all american. and he was apparently practicing and had this episode of card quack arrest. it is believed, though i ve not been able to confirm, it s believed that because of the incredible medical staff that was on-site, they were able to work on him very quickly, transport him to the hospital. he was in icu for a while, according to the family statement. they say he is now out of icu
like this happens to somebody so young? it s a rare event. we think in this age group under the age of 35, it occurs somewhere between 1 in 50,000 and 1 in 100,000 individuals. as you say, it s usually an otherwise young healthy athlete. we know that some athletes are at higher risk than others, men more so than women, african american men. african american basketball players are the highest risk. so, if you re playing basketball, football, or soccer, those are the highest-risk sports, men more than women. but these are rare events, no question. and, so, in this context, elon musk comes out today weighing in on the covid vaccine, saying that it could ve been responsible for what happened to bronny. he tweets, we cannot ascribe everything to the vaccine, but,
vaccines. and covid the virus, the illness causes it twice as much, about 60 per 100,000. so it s still better to safer to have the vaccine than it is to have covid itself. and all of that happens usually in the first 21 days based on what the data. if you had the vaccine six months ago, it shouldn t be involved. and also those statistics that, yes, it can cause it, but the virus itself causes it more often than the vaccine from the studies thus far. you know, bronny james is the second usc basketball player in the past year to suffer cardiac arrest. and, of course, we all know about damar hamlin from the buffalo bills, collapsed at that football game. he was 24 years old. his heart just stopped. obviously he s recovering. in the case of hamlin, there was wild speculation, again, about the role of the covid vaccine. it was unfounded, doctor, but it was very prevalent. do you have any hesitation at this point about recommending the covid vaccine to young men?
possible for sure. so the diagnosis matters, and we can develop a plan. and then we can talk about prognosis. we are actually publishing data on this in genetic heart disease, depends on what he ends up having. a plan can be delivered. we can work with an exercise plan and we develop that plan for safety including all the stakeholders. absolutely this is an opportunity for bronny to still play. they d have to decide what s wrong and come up with a therapy before we tell you if that s safe enough. thank you, doctor, i appreciate your time. thanks for having me. and, next, democratic presidential candidate rfk jr. telling congress just last week that he is not antivaccine. will the, of course, the tape proves otherwise. new reporting from cnn s k-file will reveal that rfk jr. s campaign has actually been paying anti-vaxx advocates. you ll see it for yourself. and china officially announcing its top diplomat has been replaced.