Irving man traveled to Cuernavaca, Mexico to see his girlfriend. A few days after arriving, he felt a bad headache but went to sleep. The next morning, he couldn't get up from bed with extreme body pain and was struggling to breathe. He was taken by emergency to the local hospital where he tested positive for COVID-19. After being intubated for 6 days, he passed away. Jorge was 42 years old with no pre-existing conditions.
His twin brother, Omar, travelled to Mexico to see his brother. He is still in shock at how quickly his brother's health deteriorated with the disease.
"Jorge was strong and had no health issues. I had warned him not to travel to Mexico because of the surge in COVID-19 cases there. I wish he would have listened", said Omar.
Unfortunately, Jorge was not vaccinated. "He was against vaccinations, believing in conspiracies posted on social media that the government was forcing everyone to take unsafe vaccines.", explains Omar, "I tried to reason with him and told him that I had only experienced mild symptoms after my two Moderna vaccinations, but he thought I was crazy to believe the hype, as he called it".
Jorge leaves behind three children and a brother trying to understand why this happened.
"Part of our family is mad because this tragedy could have been prevented. Although we are responsible for what we read and believe, the overload of false information online causes confusion. It's getting harder and harder to differentiate from fact and falsehoods", laments Omar.
Omar hopes that his tragedy of losing his brother can make others think about their own lives and choices.
"I beg everyone to follow the recommendations of the CDC, don't believe Facebook posts or even news networks, believe those that have the knowledge and expertise", says Omar.
With the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of the first COVID-19 vaccine known as the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, some might start changing their minds as to the efficacy and safety of the vaccine.
“The FDA’s approval of this vaccine is a milestone as we continue to battle the COVID-19 pandemic. While this and other vaccines have met the FDA’s rigorous, scientific standards for emergency use authorization, as the first FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccine, the public can be very confident that this vaccine meets the high standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality the FDA requires of an approved product,” said Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock, M.D. “While millions of people have already safely received COVID-19 vaccines, we recognize that for some, the FDA approval of a vaccine may now instill additional confidence to get vaccinated. Today’s milestone puts us one step closer to altering the course of this pandemic in the U.S.”
“Our scientific and medical experts conducted an incredibly thorough and thoughtful evaluation of this vaccine. We evaluated scientific data and information included in hundreds of thousands of pages, conducted our own analyses of Comirnaty’s safety and effectiveness, and performed a detailed assessment of the manufacturing processes, including inspections of the manufacturing facilities,” said Peter Marks, M.D., Ph.D., director of FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. “We have not lost sight that the COVID-19 public health crisis continues in the U.S. and that the public is counting on safe and effective vaccines. The public and medical community can be confident that although we approved this vaccine expeditiously, it was fully in keeping with our existing high standards for vaccines in the U.S."
Sadly, Jorge paid with his life for choosing to believe false information posted on social media. These are life or death decisions; in some cases, you don't get a second chance to change your mind.
