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An Alabama doctor pleaded on Facebook this week for Covid-19 skeptics to get vaccinated – unlike some of his patients who have paid the ultimate price.
Dr Brytney Cobia’s passionate and depressing Facebook post on Sunday was widely shared on social media. The Birmingham doctor said people were listening to his firsthand accounts of treating critical patients who wished they had never been vaccinated.
“I admit healthy young people with very serious COVID infections to the hospital. 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, “she wrote.
“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 for the vaccine and encourage everyone they know to do the same. ”
Cobia’s post was shared approximately 4,000 times on Wednesday afternoon.
She also wrote in the post about difficult interactions with people who have lost loved ones to the deadly disease.
“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,” Cobia wrote.
“But they were wrong. And they wish they could go back. But they can’t. So they thank me and they are going to be vaccinated. And I go back to my office, I write their obituaries, and I say a little prayer that this loss will save more lives.
Cobia declined a request for an interview on Wednesday, telling NBC News via text message that she was receiving “threat messages.”
“I’m a little (meaning a lot) overwhelmed and just need to step back now,” said Cobia.
Cobia told AL.com that treating coronavirus patients, even those who have chosen not to be vaccinated, is pulling on its heart cords.
“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’ve made the best decision they can with the information.” it has, and all the misinformation that circulates, ”she told the media.
Alabama has the lowest vaccination rates in the country. Only 38% of the state’s population has received at least one dose of the vaccine and only 31% are fully vaccinated on Tuesday, according to state statistics. Over the past two weeks, the moving average number of new daily cases in Alabama has increased by 694, an increase of 573%.
But Alabama is far from the only one. Southern states – including Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee – have reappeared as Covid hotspots. The worrying increases are largely due to the highly contagious delta variant and reluctance to vaccinate, public health officials said.
Studies have shown that Covid-19 vaccines are effective against several variants, including the delta variant. A recent report from Public Health England, where the variant accounts for over 90 percent of new cases, found that two doses of the Pfizer vaccine is 96 percent effective against hospitalization.
The Associated Press contributed.
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