'I'm sorry, but it's too late': Doctor says hospitalized COVID-19 patients asking for vaccines

An Alabama doctor is opening up about her experience treating those hospitalized for the coronavirus amid a resurgence of cases, saying dying patients are asking her to vaccinate them.

“One of the last things they do before they're intubated is beg me for the vaccine. I hold their hand and tell them that I'm sorry, but it's too late," Brytney Cobia, a hospitalist at Grandview Medical Center in Birmingham, wrote on Facebook this week.

“A few days later when I call time of death, I hug their family members and I tell them the best way to honor their loved one is to go get vaccinated and encourage everyone they know to do the same,” Cobia added.

Alabama has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, with only 33 percent of its population fully vaccinated, according to data from John Hopkins University.

Cobia listed all the different reasons she heard from patients and their families about why they didn’t get the vaccine.

“They cry. And they tell me they didn't know. They thought it was a hoax. They thought it was political. They thought because they had a certain blood type or a certain skin color they wouldn't get as sick. They thought it was 'just the flu'. But they were wrong. And they wish they could go back. But they can't,” she said.

Cobia told AL.com that even though she knows the people made the choice to not get vaccinated, it is hard on medical professionals watching people die from the virus that could have been prevented.

“You kind of go into it thinking, ‘Okay, I’m not going to feel bad for this person, because they make their own choice,’” Cobia said. “But then you actually see them, you see them face to face, and it really changes your whole perspective, because they’re still just a person that thinks that they made the best decision that they could with the information that they have, and all the misinformation that’s out there.”

The White House recently called out social media companies, saying the misinformation on the platforms about the vaccine has led to people dying.

The delta variant of the coronavirus is causing a new spike in cases around the country, with the vast majority of those hospitalized or dying being unvaccinated.