Californian in his early 30s who laughed at vaccines on Twitter and Instagram has died from COVID-19

• Stephen Harmon, a man in his 30s who lived in California, recently died with COVID-19.

• He has repeatedly released mocking vaccines, even after contracting the coronavirus.

• The founder of Hillsong Church, which Harmon attended, said on Thursday that he had passed away.

• See more stories on the Insider business page.

A man who joked about not getting the shot died from the coronavirus just over a month later.

Stephen Harmon’s death was announced by Hillsong Church founder Brian Houston, the Twitter Thursday.

Houston wrote on Instagram that Harmon was in his early 30s, graduated from Hillsong College and “a vital part of our church in California.”

“He was one of the most generous people I know and he had so much going on,” wrote Houston.

Harmon posted a picture of himself at the hospital in early July:

Hillsong is a popular church among celebrities such as Justin Bieber and Vanessa Hudgens, but was recently accused that church leaders made racist remarks and LGBTQ members were blacklisted.

Before his death, Harmon made jokes about the virus on Twitter, including references to his decision not to get the shot.

On June 3, Harmon tweeted: “If you have messaging problems, I feel bad for you, son. I have 99 problems but a vax isn’t!”

The tweet referred to Jay-Z’s song “99 Problems”.

Three days later, Harmon makes another reference to being unvaccinated.

“Since everything is a social construct these days and people here identify as different races than the ones they were born under (Rachel Dolezal now Nkechi Amare Diallo) And, if you prefer, I will also identify as vaccinated “Harmon wrote.

Harmon also joked about the widespread trust in Dr Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease expert.

“When you can’t trust the Bible because it was written by man, but you trust the CDC / Fauci guidelines because it was written by man. makes sense, “Harmon tweeted May 26.

The story continues

Harmon posted on Instragram on June 30 from the hospital, saying he had contracted the virus. He then gave regular updates on his condition.

On July 8, he posted another anti-vaccine joke and criticized what he called undue pressure to encourage people to get vaccinated. He wrote alongside the post: “I’m not against it, I’m just in no rush to get it… ironically, as I continue to lie down here in South Corona in my isolation room in the covid room to fight the virus and pneumonia. And no, I won’t be vaccinated once I’m out and released. “

In the days that followed, Harmon wrote that his condition improved and then worsened again. His last tweet was released on Wednesday, when Harmon said he was choosing to be intubated.

“I fought this thing as hard as I could, but unfortunately I reached a critical point of choice and although I hate having to do this, I prefer it to be by will rather than by forced emergency procedure,” he wrote. “I don’t know when I’m going to wake up, please pray.”

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