Side effects. Skepticism of the government who approved it. False conspiracy theories about microchipping people through an supposedly-unnecessary inoculation.
All of these reasons, read on social media, played into Richard Soliz’s decision to remain unvaccinated against COVID-19. Then he got the virus.
Soliz needed 28 days, a hospital stay, and time on a ventilator to get past his infection, barely clinging to life at one point, and he’s still recovering from the strain the virus put on his body. He recently returned to the hospital that saved his life and apologized for not having gotten vaccinated before he contracted COVID.
Soliz told KOMO that no one he knew had gotten COVID before he got it, but when he found he couldn’t breathe, he realized what the reason likely was.
“That's when I really knew I was in a bad situation, that's when I knew, ‘Hey, this is COVID. Man. I contracted the virus,’” Soliz said.
He said it was important for him to speak to the staff that helped him through to the other side of the coronavirus and explain how his beliefs have changed.
“I just wanted to say thank you so much,” he told a nurse. “Please go get vaccinated because this virus is real. Real enough to take someone's life, put you in the ICU.”
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