Firefighter thought COVID vaccine was ‘political game,’ wife says. Now she’s mourning

Mikel and Christina Lowe once adamantly opposed COVID-19 vaccines, face masks and other precautions, calling the pandemic “a political game.”

“We thought the vaccine was rushed,” Christina Lowe told KNSD. “We thought it was more about money and power than about Americans and protecting the people.”

Then Mikel Lowe, a 15-year firefighter living in Henderson, Nevada, fell ill with the coronavirus. He was hospitalized with pneumonia and kidney failure, KVVU reported.

“I went upstairs to check on him and his face was purple and blue,” Christina Lowe told KNSD. “He was struggling to breathe on oxygen.”

His two weeks in the hospital prompted Christina Lowe to change her mind and get vaccinated. Her 38-year-old husband died while she was getting her first shot on Aug. 29, according to the station, leaving her to raise their two young sons alone.

“He’s not gonna be there for birthdays and holidays,” Christina Lowe told KVVU. “He’s not gonna be there when they graduate, when they get married, when they have kids. He’s gonna miss out on all of that.”

Christina Lowe says she now encourages everyone to get vaccinated, wear face masks and take other precautions against COVID-19.

“Your life isn’t worth thinking this is because of the president, or this is because of the governor,” she told KNSD. “Because once you’re gone, none of that matters.”

More than 99% of recent COVID-19 deaths in the United States have involved people who are not vaccinated against the virus, Dr. Anthony Fauci said on “Meet The Press” July 4.

Hospitals across the United States report they are flooded with new COVID-19 patients, with many running out of intensive-care unit beds.

“We can’t do this forever,” Dr. Matthew Payne of Oklahoma told KOKH. “We’re drowning.”

More than 221 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide with more than 4.5 million deaths as of Sept. 7, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has had more than 40 million confirmed cases with more than 649,000 deaths.

This story was originally published September 7, 2021 at 11:41 AM with the headline "Firefighter thought COVID vaccine was ‘political game,’ wife says. Now she’s mourning."