Florida Covid-19 cases: Staff at a Jacksonville Baptist hospital say they are hearing panic, fear and regret from unvaccinated patients
“We’re getting ready to intubate the patient, which means putting them on a ventilator, and they said, ‘If I get the vaccine now, could I not go on the ventilator?’ So, they’re begging for it,” Chief Nursing Officer Tammy Daniel told CNN. “They’re desperate because they are gasping for air, they can’t breathe, they are scared, they feel like they’re going to pass away. “
But by then, they are too late for a vaccine to stop their infection.
More than 99% of those patients aren’t vaccinated and the average age is around 50 years old, said CEO of Baptist Health Michael Mayo.
Dr. Michelle Aquino said many of the patients getting very sick are young.
Last week, she admitted a 19-year-old and a 25-year-old for Covid-19, both perfectly healthy before their infections, she said.
“So, you’re seeing these healthy people walking around saying I don’t need a vaccine, I’m fine if I get Covid I’ll be fine and that’s not true. With the Delta variant we have really seeing that is not true,” Aquino said.
Some patients said they were more concerned about the vaccines than the disease. Now they say they regret not getting the vaccine sooner.
That fear of vaccines is especially frustrating, Aquino said, because there is still no significant, surefire treatment for Covid-19.
“When patients come in, we’re very honest with them. We say a lot of it is, we think it’ll help, we’re not sure it will help, it might help, we hope it helps, but we’re not sure and you take it day by day,” Aquino said.
Everyone at Baptist Medical Center has lost patients to the virus in the last few weeks, Aquino said, which has been emotionally taxing on the staff who knows most of these deaths could have been avoided.
