Social media posts are baselessly suggesting the death of 30-year-old U.S. golfer Grayson Murray was linked to COVID-19 vaccines.

Murray died by suicide on May 25, his parents said, opens new tab in a statement published on May 26.

“Life wasn’t always easy for Grayson, and although he took his own life, we know he rests peacefully now,” said a statement from Eric and Terry Murray.

Their son had been open, opens new tab about his battle with alcoholism and mental health problems earlier this year.

But a post on X on May 25, which received, opens new tab around one million views before it was deleted, relayed news of Murray’s death before adding.

“Reminder that this is absolutely not f**king normal. Health officials need to conduct a full investigation into why young fit healthy people keep dying suddenly. 

Although you already know why.”

Screenshots of the post have also been widely shared on Facebook. Comments underneath suggest people have understood it refers to COVID-19 vaccines. One showed an emoji, opens new tab of a vaccine needle, while another said, opens new tab the vaccine had, “killed some people immediately, some within days or weeks and it’s still killing people even today”.

Use of the phrase “dying suddenly” refers to a conspiracy narrative that attributes unexpected deaths to COVID vaccines without evidence. Reuters has previously addressed this narrative, including around a film with the phrase as its title.

Linking the sudden deaths of young people and specifically sportspersons to the shot is a common conspiracy, opens new tab, which the X user, opens new tab has more explicitly written about in the past, and Reuters has fact-checked repeatedly.

Misleading. Grayson Murray died by suicide, his parents said in a statement. There is no evidence his death was caused by COVID vaccines.

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Source: USA Today