Doctor forced to refuse COVID patients who beg for vaccine

An Alabama doctor has warned it is “too late” to administer the COVID-19 vaccine when patients are in hospital and fighting for their lives.

Dr Brytney Cobia, who works at Grandview Medical Center in Birmingham, said she was forced to refuse desperate pleas from COVID-19 patients to receive the vaccine before they were placed on ventilators.

“I am admitting healthy young people with very serious COVID infections to the hospital,” Cobia wrote on Facebook on Sunday.

“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.

The majority of infected patients currently in hospital have not received the vaccine – and the one patient who was vaccinated only needed some oxygen and is expected to recover, Cobia told AL.com .

But some of the patients who weren’t vaccinated weren’t so lucky, she said.

“When I call the time of death, I hug their family members and tell them the best way to honor their loved one is to go get the shot and cheer on everyone they know. to do the same, ”she wrote on Facebook.

“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.

Cobia said she recommends anyone who has not been vaccinated to contact their doctor with questions.

“I try not to be judgmental when I get a new COVID patient who is not vaccinated, but I really just started asking them, ‘Why didn’t you get the vaccine? “And I’m just going to ask the question blank, in the least critical way possible,” she said. “And most of them, they’re very honest, they give me answers. “I spoke to this person, I saw this thing on Facebook, I got this email, I saw this on the news,” you know, those are all the reasons I didn’t not vaccinated.

“And the only question I always ask them is, have you made an appointment with your GP and asked for his or her opinion on whether or not you should get the vaccine?” And so far, no one has answered yes to this question, ”she continued.

Across the country, at least 99% of deaths from COVID-19 and 97% of hospitalizations are in people who have not been vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.