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A conservative Tennessee radio host who repeatedly spread misinformation about the coronavirus and laughed at the vaccines, but changed his tone after falling seriously ill, was still fighting for his life on Saturday, weeks after he contracted the virus.
Phil Valentine, who hosts a radio show on 99.7 WWTN-FM in Nashville, is hospitalized and receives supplemental oxygen while in intensive care to fight COVID pneumonia, his family said in a statement Friday.
“They say he’s still not doing well… please pray for me,” his wife, Susan, said at the station on Saturday morning, according to a tweet. “I’m at a breaking point.”
On Saturday afternoon, Julia Campbell Shirley declined to comment on her son-in-law’s condition before hastily telling the Daily Beast, “I certainly think people should be vaccinated.”
Valentine had repeatedly downplayed the importance of COVID-19 and dismissed advice from health officials about the severity of the virus and the importance of getting vaccinated.
In a blog post published in December, days after Pfizer’s first dose of COVID vaccine cleared for emergency use in the United States, Valentine said he was simply following logic in deciding not to do so. vaccinate.
“I am not an anti-vaxxer,” he wrote. “I’m just using common sense. What are my chances of catching the Covid? They are quite low. What are my chances of dying from Covid if I get it? Probably less than 1%. I do what everyone should be doing and this is my own health risk assessment. If you have any underlying health problems, you probably need to get the vaccine. If you’re not at a high risk of dying from Covid, you’re probably safer not to get it. “
After confirming rumors of her diagnosis on July 11, Valentine was initially well enough to brief listeners on her condition.
“I think I’m on the other side,” he said of the virus on one occasion, according to WIAT, while describing a painful cough, congestion and fatigue.
“I am moving forward, it seems, but not in a straight line,” he added.
Valentine defended his decision not to get the vaccine as he began to battle the virus, insisting he believed the disease would not kill him.
Before his hospitalization, Valentine also announced on the air that he was “taking vitamin D like crazy” and had found a doctor who agreed to prescribe him ivermectin. The drug, often used to treat parasites in animals, has been touted in right-wing media circles as a promising COVID treatment, but the Food and Drug Administration has warned against its use for COVID-19.
But in the days that followed, Valentine’s family shared with the radio station that his battle with the virus had become more difficult and that he was hospitalized in intensive care.
Her brother, Mark Valentine, posted an impassioned Facebook post on Wednesday suggesting that Valentine’s fight for her life “persuaded me to go get the vaccine when I was not inclined to do it before.”
“Having seen this up close and personally, I encourage you ALL to put politics and other concerns aside and understand them,” he added, noting that he would not want his brother’s condition to be lost. his worst enemies.
A day later, during an appearance on WWTN-FM in Nashville, Mark Valentine said his brother wished he was a more vocal advocate for immunization.
“For those who are listening, I know if he was able to tell you, he would say, ‘Go get the shot. Stop worrying about politics. Stop worrying about all the conspiracy theories, ”he said.
Mark Valentine insisted that even though his brother was not anti-vax, “he was wrong on this one”.
Last month, Valentine even wrote and performed a parody of the Beatles song “Taxman,” called “Vaxman,” in which he seemed to mock vaccines.
“Let me tell you how it will be,” he sang, “and I don’t care if you agree, because I’m the Vaxman, yeah, I’m the Vaxman. If you don’t like me to come, be thankful that I don’t hold you back.
Tennessee continues to rank among the lowest in the country for vaccination rates, although cases are increasing in large part due to the highly contagious variant of the Delta.
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