Woman, 26, Who Skipped Vaccine Because She Was Healthy Almost Dies of COVID

A 26-year-old woman who spent more than half a year in a hospital due to COVID complications has urged young people to get vaccinated.

The California woman, named as Wynter Ho by news outlet ABC 7, was discharged from the hospital on Friday last week after her seven-month ordeal.

Ho had caught COVID in July and was not vaccinated at the time, since she considered herself healthy and without any underlying health conditions. However, she quickly developed pneumonia and doctors worked for months to help her recover using a ventilator.

One of her physicians Dr. Hoang Le told ABC 7 that there were multiple times when the young patient nearly died. "It was definitely not once, not twice, but multiple times that it was very challenging to kind of get her out of that dark hole," Le said.

One of the first things Ho did after getting discharged from the hospital was get a COVID vaccine.

"I feel I was meant to catch it, to relay the message that young people my age need to get vaccinated," she told ABC 7 upon her release.

Video footage via ABC 7 of Ho getting released from the hospital shows what appear to be medical workers clapping, cheering, and holding up signs near the exit, one of which reads "Yay Wynter."

Ho gave thanks to everyone at the hospital who helped her, and added, following her battle with COVID: "I look at life way differently now."

As of January 10, 71.5 percent of the U.S. population aged 12 and over had been fully vaccinated against COVID, rising to 73.3 percent for people aged 18 and over, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data.

Figures are much lower for booster doses as 39.6 percent of people aged 18 and over have had their initial full vaccination series followed by a booster dose.

Ho's case does not represent the first time recently that a patient has urged people to get vaccinated after having caught a severe case of COVID.

Earlier this month of January, Andrew Pugh, 52, from the U.K., spoke out about his three-week period in intensive care after catching COVID without having had a vaccine and urged people to get a shot.

In other vaccine news, COVID vaccinations shot up in Quebec, Canada, recently after the province introduced a new rule that required people to be vaccinated in order to purchase alcohol or marijuana. The new requirement is due to go into effect in the region on January 18.