‘I’m sorry, but it’s too late’: Doctor says COVID-19 hospital patients ask for vaccines

An Alabama doctor talks about his experience treating people hospitalized for the coronavirus amid a resurgence of cases, saying dying patients are asking him to vaccinate them.

“One of the last things they do before they are intubated is begging me for the vaccine. I hold their hand and tell them I’m sorry, but it’s too late “, Brytney Cobia, hospitalist at Grandview Medical Center in Birmingham, wrote on Facebook this week.

“A few days later, when I call the time of death, I hug their family members and tell them that the best way to honor their loved one is to go get the shot and encourage everyone they know to do the same, ”Cobia added.

Alabama has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, with just 33% of its population fully vaccinated, according to data from John Hopkins University.

Cobia listed all of the different reasons she heard from patients and their families why they did not get the vaccine.

“They cry. And they tell me they didn’t know. They thought it was a hoax. They thought it was political. They thought because they had a certain blood type or a certain skin color. , they wouldn’t get that sick. They thought it was “just the flu.” But they were wrong. And they wish they could go back. But they can’t, ”she said.

Cobia told AL.com that even though she knows that people have made the choice not to be vaccinated, it is difficult for healthcare professionals to see people die from the virus that could have been prevented.

“You go there thinking, ‘Okay, I’m not going to feel bad for this person because they are making their own choice,’” Cobia said. “But then you actually see them, you see them face to face, and it really changes your whole perspective, because it’s always just a person who thinks they made the best decision possible with the information.” it has, and all the misinformation going around.

The White House recently called social media companies, saying misinformation on platforms about the vaccine had resulted in people being killed.

The delta variant of the coronavirus is causing a new spike in cases across the country, with the vast majority of people hospitalized or dying not being vaccinated.