Dr. Nicole Linder has cared for countless COVID-19 patients throughout the pandemic, but one “very special patient” was on her mind as she spoke with reporters Thursday, Sept. 9, about the need to get more Michiganders vaccinated.
Linder, who serves as chief hospitalist for OSF St. Francis Hospital Medical Group in Escanaba, said she has cared for a patient named Kathy for the last three weeks, who had “refused the vaccine adamantly” before contracting COVID-19.
The woman voiced regret upon being admitted, and spent her time in the hospital calling friends and family who, like her, had refused to be vaccinated. Linder said Kathy convinced at least six people to get the shot before her condition worsened and she was sent home to spend her final days in hospice care with her family.
“It was too late for her,” Linder said. “Despite everything that could possibly be done for her, she’s going to lose her battle and lose her life. And she’s vivacious and gregarious and just a wonderful person and this did not have to happen. Her family didn’t have to lose her.”
Linder shared her patient’s story, with her permission, but provided limited details. She hugged her and said goodbye earlier this week, noting that her “death is imminent” and she wanted to be at home with her family when she died.
The Upper Peninsula doctor spoke Thursday about her experience with COVID-19 patients in recent months, the vast majority of whom have declined to get vaccinated and wound up seriously ill from a coronavirus infection. In Delta County, where she works, 53% of residents had gotten a first shot as of Sept. 8, and 57% were fully vaccinated.
“I’m fatigued, and I am heartsick and I’m tired of watching people suffer needlessly and die of a disease that could have been prevented by a simple and safe and effective vaccine,” Linder said. “I don’t want to watch my patients’ families suffer with the grief of this and also the guilt if they played some role in their family member’s decision not to be vaccinated.”
One of the most common reasons she hears for why people didn’t get vaccinated was because they “don’t want to inject some untested or foreign substance into their body.”
“I don’t think that people realize that if they do become ill enough to be hospitalized, they’re going to be injected with a lot of foreign substances and most of them less proven than the COVID vaccine,” she said. “... I think people overestimate the effectiveness of the treatments that we have for COVID in comparison to the vaccine.”
Linder noted that full vaccination leaves people with a .001% chance of dying from a breakthrough COVID-19 infection. The available vaccines have gone through rigorous testing and offer significant protection against severe illness and death from COVID-19.
Pfizer’s two-dose vaccine has been granted full approval for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for individuals 16 year and older. Additional vaccines by Moderna and Johnson & Johnson offer similar protection against severe COVID-19 illness, and have received emergency use authorization following clinical trials and review by an independent advisory committee made up of vaccine and disease experts.
“The best treatment for COVID is to never get it in the first place,” Linder said. “There really aren’t any miracle cures, despite what some of the media figures have led the public to believe.”
As of Tuesday, Sept. 7, about 61% of Michigan residents 12 and older had gotten a first dose of vaccine, and 56.2% had been fully vaccinated. Vaccination rates remain higher among those 50 and older, with the lowest rates coming from teens and those in their 20s and 30s.
Vaccines are readily available at local pharmacies, health systems, clinics, and health departments. To find a vaccine near you, visit Michigan’s COVID-19 vaccine website or go to VaccineFinder.org.
Read more on MLive:
Weighing the risks of COVID vaccines against the risk of the COVID virus
Michigan researchers estimate combined vaccination, natural immunity rate
School COVID outbreaks quadruple, total clusters climb 18% in Michigan
What we know at this point about natural immunity to COVID-19
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