“I could have stroked out at 100 feet while trying to land an airplane,” Pearson feared what could have happened to passengers if he was flying a plane, “I could have just pushed down on that stick before the person next to me could do anything. Whereas It’s all over for a lot of people.”
He could "stroke out", have a heart attack, a seizure, food poisoning, a bird strike, or any number of other things happen at 100 feet whether he's vaccinated or not. Pilots have medical issues in flight pretty often. That's one of the reasons there are two pilots in an airliner. We have to undergo physicals every six months but that's no guarantee that nothing will happen. Most of us are pretty old, it takes a lot of flight time and experience to get a job at a major US carrier so you usually don't see people in their 20's getting hired. Obviously you call in sick if you're not feeling up to flying but things happen, especially when you're older. The "OMG I could have had a stroke at 100 feet" stuff is teenage drama at it's finest.
I have had the vaccine but I'm not pro or anti vaxx. I had Covid over a year ago and personally don't think I needed the vaccine because I think the natural immunity is better. I fly internationally and many countries have different rules for vaxxed vs unvaxxed. I can't eat in a restaurant without being vaccinated in Paris, I can't stay in a hotel in Germany without the vax. In Sydney I can't leave my hotel room if I'm not vaxxed, I can't even set foot in Italy without it. I took the vaccine because being quarantined all over the world for the last two years has been miserable. The vax card lets me have a meal and glass of wine in a restaurant in Paris instead of having to order room service. It lets me take the ferry to Manly beach in Sydney and walk around instead of being confined to my hotel room. If it wasn't for the fact that my quality of life would be adversely affected by these various foreign government rules I wouldn't have taken it because I don't think I needed it and I don't think it works very well, if it did this pandemic would already be over.
My company hasn't mandated the vaccine. We have probably 80% of the pilots that have taken it. The guys that fly domestic aren't really affected by these stupid rules, but the international guys like me have to factor these rules into our decision for all the reasons I've outlined already. We've had more than a few pilots retire instead of putting up with the international quarantines and hassle. I'm not old enough to have the option to retire so I had to factor in how miserable my life was going to be on the road. After weighing the options I decided to do the vaccine.
I'm not a doctor and I can't tell you if people are having heart problems from the vaccine or not. All I can say is I didn't have anything from it and I don't know anyone that has. I can say after reading that article that this guy is a whiny attention seeker though.