'It was too late': Michigan doctor appeals to the unvaccinated as dying patient regrets vaccine opposition

A Michigan doctor is appealing to unvaccinated individuals in her state after watching a dying COVID patient express deep regret about not getting the vaccine.

Speaking to MLive on Thursday Sept. 8, Dr. Nicole Linder, the chief hospitslist at OSF St. Francis Hospital Medical Group in Escanaba Mich., spoke fondly of one "very special patient" as she offered a glimpse of the reality she faces on the frontline battling COVID-19.

Linder says the patient's family did not have to lose her the way they did.

"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."

As COVID continues to batter her state, Linder described how taxing her job has become during the pandemic.

"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."

The doctor explained how the two-shot vaccine differs vastly from the medications patients are administered when hospitalized with COVID.

Although people who refuse the vaccine emphasize that they "don't want to inject some untested or foreign substance into their body," Linder highlights the double standard of that mindset:

"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 ... I think people overestimate the effectiveness of the treatments that we have for COVID in comparison to the vaccine."

"The best treatment for COVID is to never get it in the first place," Linder added. "There really aren't any miracle cures, despite what some of the media figures have led the public to believe."