‘Misinformation killed her’: Bride who bought into vaccine infertility myth dies of COVID

Another woman is dead after buying into myths about the COVID-19 vaccine.

NBC News reported on Samantha Wendell, who was going to have her dream wedding on Aug. 21, instead, she ended up in the hospital, dying from the deadly virus.

Her fiancé, Austin Eskew, explained that Wendell had wanted to start a family after they were married. So, when anti-vaccine people posted on social media that the shot causes infertility Wendell didn't get vaccinated. "Despite top reproductive health groups refuting it — she 'just kind of panicked,'" Eskew explained.

Wendell's funeral will now take place in the church where their wedding was supposed to be. The family said that they wanted to share her story because she would have wanted people to learn from her mistake.

"Misinformation killed her," said her cousin Maria Vibandor Hayes. "If we can save more lives and families' lives, then this is the gift that she left for us to deliver."

"Despite her initial hesitancy, Wendell herself had recently changed her stance on the vaccine," the report explained, citing the delta variant. She decided she would get vaccinated ahead of their honeymoon in Mexico. They got their vaccination appointments for the end of July and wedding events continued with dress fittings and a bachelorette party in Nashville.

"Just after returning from Nashville, and less than a week before they were scheduled to get vaccinated, Wendell started feeling sick," the report said.

Both had COVID. Despite having no underlying conditions, Wendell was taken down by the disease.

"Doctors tried with limited success to stabilize her," NBC said. "On Aug. 16, five days before she was supposed to get married, she was put on a ventilator. The wedding was postponed, with hopes it could happen later in the year."

Instead, multiple doctors told the family she wouldn't recover. She died on Sept. 10, something her mother said "could have been avoided."

"There is currently no evidence that the Covid vaccine or any other vaccine causes fertility problems in men or women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recommends the vaccine for everyone who is eligible for it, including 'people who are pregnant, breastfeeding, trying to get pregnant now, or might become pregnant in the future,'" said the report.

Read the full story at NBC News.