Woman Didn't Want COVID Vaccine For Fear Of Side Effects. She Caught The Delta Variant & Died.

Vaccine hesitancy has been a huge problem in trying to curb the spread of COVID-19. Family members of a woman who passed away after contracting the new variant of the virus are hoping her life was not lost in vain and will serve as a reminder to those who are refusing to get the vaccine. 

Tricia Jones, 45, did not want to get the vaccine after she saw the side effects her mother, Deborah Carmichael went through. She decided to wait it out. The mother of two from Missouri then fell ill. In April, it is believed that Jones’ son caught the Delta variant at his junior high school, according to Fox 4. Jones and her husband then got sick too. “After she got it, she said, ‘Mom you were right, about the shot, about masks, being diligent and all that.’ I was like, ‘I don’t want to be right. I want you to be well. That’s all that matters,'” Carmichael said.

In May, Jones was hospitalized and was put on a ventilator. “She was afraid of the side effects, I think," Carmichael explained. "You hear a lot of horror stories. I, myself, when I had the shot, it was rough, so it scared her and freaked her out. So she didn’t want to do it. I couldn’t convince her." She had got the vaccine in the spring but her daughter had decided to wait. “I felt like, as her mom, I brought her into this world, and the most loving thing I could do if it had to come to this is ushering her into the arms of the Lord," she said. "It wasn’t my choice. It wasn’t what I wanted. Everything in me was screaming, ‘No, this can’t be right. She’s only 45.'” Jones passed away on June 9.

Even though the symptoms of the virus subsided when Jones was hospitalized, she did not wake up and neither was she able to get off the ventilator. She also leaves behind her 18-year-old daughter Adriana who would sit by her mother’s bed, day after day, hoping to connect with her by talking and reading to her. Her family would also read her daily devotionals, psalms, and play some of her favorite music. “She was my best friend,” Adriana said. The teen was diagnosed with autism and her mother was her biggest support system. She graduated from high school without her mother by her side.

“There were so many days where I would just stand there next to my mom and say, ‘Wake up, mama, wake up.’ She would never wake up, and I just wish that she would," Adriana said. "I don’t think anyone should have to go through what we went through. Especially with the variant.” Carmicheal now hopes her daughter's legacy will convince at least one person to let go of their doubts and get their vaccine. “Please take this seriously. You don’t want to see a family member you love go through this,” she said. “You have a way better chance of coming out OK than if you don’t.”

Missouri is one of the lowest vaccination rates in the US. According to Newsweek, just under 56 percent of the state's adult residents have received at least one shot of the vaccine while just under 49 percent are fully vaccinated. In comparison, Maine, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont have more than 70 percent of their adult populations fully vaccinated. Experts have stated that at least 70 percent of a population needs to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to achieve herd immunity.