American Airlines Captain Greg Pearson recalled suffering atrial fibrillation after he decided to get a work-mandated Covid-19 jab.
Pearson gave his testimony during a press conference at AmericaFest 2021 last month, where he said he decided to get the jab after being pressured by his employer.
"There's a number of pilots out there who are fearful to come forward and speak"
Pilot Greg Pearson share's the story of his rapid onset atrial fibrillation after getting vaccinated against #COVID19.
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“Traveling between the state that I live in Hawaii and California where I have family – two states that have archaic travel restrictions – I decided between the pressure of that, and my airline that was going to require a mandate vaccine, I went and got the jab.”
Pearson says after he got jabbed he woke up in the middle of the night with chest pain.
“I did it at 11:30 in the morning in Hawaii. Everything was normal. I went to bed. Woke up at 3:30 in the morning with my heart pounding out of my chest,” he stated.
“I went to the ER. They hooked me up quickly to EKG, IVs, did blood work. Quickly determined that it was an atrial fibrillation. It’s a major cause of stroke.”
According to Pearson, the heart emergency could have cost hundreds of people their lives if he’d been piloting a jumbo jet at the time it occurred.
“You never know when the genie’s gonna come out of the bottle and smack you down,” he said, adding, “I could have stroked out at 100 feet trying to land an airplane with 40 airplanes lined up next to us. I could have just pushed down on that stick before the person next to me could do anything.”
Pearson says there’s other pilots in the airline industry who feel the same, but are afraid to come forward for fear they’ll be retaliated against.
“There’s a number of pilots out there that are fearful to come forward and speak. They’re fearful of retribution. There’s guys that are going to work with crushing pains in their chest and their heads. They’re scared that they’re going to lose their careers because they’re 25-years-old.”
Pearson’s testimony came as an Army flight surgeon, Lieutenant Colonel Theresa Long, in September recommended to the Pentagon to ground all pilots who took the Covid vaccine due to their risk of cardiac arrest during flight.