English actor and stuntman Paul Grant, who played an ewok in Star Wars Return of the Jedi and a goblin in Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, died Sunday after collapsing at a train station in London on Thursday.
Grant was found collapsed outside the King’s Cross station on Thursday afternoon and could not be revived. He was declared brain dead and survived in a coma until early Sunday morning before succumbing.
Daughter Sophie Jayne Grant confirmed her father's death to Sky News: “I’m heartbroken… No girl deserves their dad to be taken away… He was so well known and loved [for his work]. He’s gone too soon.”
Grant, who was four foot four, also appeared in Willow (1988) and the cult classic Labyrinth (1986) alongside David Bowie.
Grant's cause of death was unknown, but could be part of a new pattern of sudden deaths that has cropped up since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reports of sudden deaths in people at younger ages than would be expected have risen since 2020, but it's difficult to tell if they are anecdotal or represent a concerning trend.
Researchers in the U.S. have shied away from investigating whether these sudden deaths could be linked to COVID-19 infection or vaccination against the virus. The only official link that has been made so far is that mRNA vaccination in young males has led to a slightly higher risk of myocarditis, which researchers think might be genetic in nature.
The Centers for Disease Control did report that there were 124,000 excess deaths among young people in 2021 and 2022 compared to statistics compiled from 2015-2019, but was quick to point out that there was no link between these deaths and COVID-19 vaccination so far.
Some scientists have looked at longer-term effects of COVID-19 infection and vaccination and seen greater incidences of stroke, blood clotting issues, and cardiovascular disease since COVID-19 came on the scene in 2020, particularly in younger patients who did not have severe issues or risk factors before getting COVID-19 or vaccination.
Many of these instances are related to what scientists call long COVID, which is a syndrome of symptoms that occur for months, years, or permanently after COVID-19 infection, but some have appeared even in asymptomatic patients.
Countries in Europe also saw higher excess deaths in 2022, but attributed those deaths to high rates of flu, pneumonia, and a crisis in urgent care, rather than any aftereffects of COVID-19 or vaccination.
Because COVID-19 became so politicized, particularly in the U.S., there has been a reluctance to do the kind of studies that would have been eagerly done prior to 2020, to see if these excess deaths could be linked to either infection from COVID-19 or vaccination, or both.
Political correctness and an era of censorship of all opinions (and many facts) deemed politically incorrect have made it all but impossible for the scientific community to study these sudden deaths with objectivity and figure out exactly what the cause or causes are.
History will look back on this situation harshly and see that many people may have died that might have been saved, if scientists had been allowed to be honest and objective about what was going on.
