Unanswered Questions: Chris Johnson, Football, and ALS after COVID-19 Vaccination
A 4.24 forty, a COVID shot, and a body ravaged by neurodegeneration in a few short years
By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH
August marked the return of NFL football. On the very first Thursday night preseason game, former NFL superstar running back Chris Johnson was honored by the male TV announcers getting drenched in buckets of ice water marking a “cold plunge challenge.” I was shocked to learn he is similar 38 former pre pandemic players and to patients I have examined who have developed rapidly progressive amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) after COVID-19 vaccination.
The Sudden Decline of an Elite Athlete
Chris Johnson wasn’t just a running back — he was CJ2K, the man who shattered the 2,000-yard rushing mark in 2009 and left defenders grasping at air with a blend of speed and acceleration that the NFL had rarely seen. Six straight seasons over 1,000 yards. A 4.24 40-yard dash. The kind of physical specimen that makes you question whether some humans are built from different blueprints entirely.
That’s what makes what happened next so jarring.
In December 2022, Johnson stood alongside fellow former Titans as a public face of the Tennessee Department of Health’s “Gear Up” campaign, urging communities to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and influenza. It was a straightforward public health partnership — former local heroes lending their credibility to a vaccination push. Johnson, by all appearances, was a healthy man in his late 30s doing what he believed was civic duty. There is no record of Johnson contracting SARS-CoV-2.
