Man hospitalized with COVID-19 told CBS he would always rather be sick than get the vaccine

• A Louisiana man hospitalized with COVID-19 told CBS he still will not get the vaccine.

• Scott Roe said he has no regrets about not getting the vaccine and would rather be hospitalized than receive it.

• The sentiment shows the challenge of getting more people vaccinated and preventing the virus from spreading.

• See more stories on the Insider business page.

A Louisiana man who contracted COVID-19 and ended up hospitalized said he would rather be sick than get the coronavirus vaccine.

“Here I am recovering, finally getting out by tomorrow. Will I get the vaccine? No,” Scott Roe told CBS News as he lay in a bed for supplemental oxygen at the medical center. Our Lady of the Lake in Baton Rouge.

The father and small business owner recently caught COVID-19 and developed pneumonia, but said he still wouldn’t have been vaccinated if it meant he could have prevented infection.

“I would have been there, yes sir,” Roe, who said he was a Republican, told CBS News’s David Begnaud. “Don’t stick it down my throat. That’s what local, state, and federal government is trying to do – stick it down your throat.”

When Begnaud asked what was being pushed, Roe said, “Their agenda is to get you vaccinated.”

Related video: How the anti-vaccination movement took root in America

U.S. health officials have deemed the coronavirus vaccines available in the country to be safe and effective.

Each of the vaccines approved for emergency use in the United States is effective in preventing COVID-19 – especially serious illness and death – and reduces the risk of the virus spreading, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But misinformation and hesitation about vaccines have stagnated vaccination rates. Health officials and politicians have urged people to get vaccinated as the most contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus spreads.

Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, said on Friday that 97% of hospitalizations related to COVID-19 were unvaccinated.

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“There is a crystal clear message: this is becoming an unvaccinated pandemic,” Walensky said.

Louisiana is one of many states struggling with a wave of Delta variant-fueled coronavirus cases circulating among unvaccinated people.

Our Lady of the Lake Medical Center has more COVID-19 patients than any other hospital in the state, CBS News reported, adding that it admitted 23 patients in 24 hours over the weekend.

Paula Johnson was another COVID-19 patient at the hospital. She is also not vaccinated.

“I have no comorbidities, nothing, I’ve never had a lung problem. Don’t smoke, nothing. And it took my lungs out and just… I don’t even know how to explain it”, a- she told CBS News. “It’s like trying to inspire and hit a wall in a second.”

Johnson, a pharmaceutical researcher, said she now wants to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.

“I would say get the shot, take a chance, it can’t hurt, all he can do is alleviate some of the symptoms, even if that doesn’t stop you from doing it – it does. will at least help get through that, ”Johnson said.

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