‘Incredible guilt.’ Father of 4 fights for life after Utah family skips COVID vaccine
When her husband left the call on COVID-19 vaccines for their family up to her, Mindy Greene of Utah wrestled with the decision.
“I read all kinds of things about the vaccine and it scared me,” Greene later wrote on Facebook, The New York Times reported. She opted against it. “So I made the decision and prayed about it and got the impression that we would be ok.”
Even after two of their four children came home from summer camp with COVID-19, the Provo mom felt comfortable with her decision, she told KSL. Then her 42-year-old husband, Russell Greene, caught the virus.
He went into the ICU on July 1, four days later, and has been there since.
“I have such incredible guilt,” Greene told The New York Times. “I blame myself still. Every day.”
Russell Greene has battled lung collapses and an emergency surgery doctors weren’t sure he’d survive while spending weeks on a ventilator, KSL reported. But Greene has hope.
“My husband told me, ‘You need to have faith that Jesus Christ still lives and miracles still happen or I won’t make it out alive’,” she told the station.
“I will always regret that I listened to the misinformation being put out there,” Greene told The New York Times. “They’re creating fear.”
If she had it to do over again, Greene says she’d have gotten her family vaccinated.
“Educate yourself with facts and then make the decision. Include the Lord in that process and he will help guide you,” she told KSL. “But you cannot make an educated decision on fear and lies.”
More than 99% of recent COVID-19 deaths in the United States have involved people who are not vaccinated against the virus, NPR reported.
More than 202 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide with more than 4 million deaths as of Aug. 8, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has more than 35 million confirmed cases with more than 616, 000 deaths.
States began easing pandemic restrictions in the spring as three vaccines became available and cases declined, but a new variant of the virus has sparked a resurgence in cases.
The delta variant, first recorded in India, is more contagious and increases disease severity such as risks of hospitalization. The COVID-19 vaccines used in the United States are effective against it but vaccination rates remain low in some areas.
This story was originally published August 8, 2021 at 9:44 AM with the headline "‘Incredible guilt.’ Father of 4 fights for life after Utah family skips COVID vaccine."