Kaitlyn Alanis
McClatchy Washington Bureau
COVINGTON, Ky. — A Kentucky firefighter who avoided the COVID vaccine for political reasons now says he “messed up” after a hospital stay. And he’s urging others not to do the same.
“Since COVID-19 became a ‘thing’ I felt I had nothing to fear,” Jimmy Adams wrote in a public Facebook post. “Over the last year and a half the topic had become exhausting to me. Day in and day out, opinions, political views, agendas, personal attacks, mask or no mask, test no test, shot or no shot. ... You get the point.
“I was of the opinion due to political views I guess … sadly that I was not taking the shots. I was fine I wasn’t gonna get it and that was that.”
But Adams did get infected with coronavirus and said it it beat him up “pretty bad.”
Adams is a lieutenant with the Covington Fire Department, WLWT reported. Covington is just outside Cincinnati.
Even when he was diagnosed with COVID-19 about two weeks ago, WLWT reported, Adams thought he would be fine since he actively exercises and wasn’t aware of any compromising health issues.
“And here I am, you know a 50-year-old man, in reasonably decent shape, and it knocked me for a loop far greater than I ever thought,” Adams said in a video interview recorded by the Cincinnati-based TV station.
After nearly a week of fighting COVID, Adams shared on Facebook that he was admitted into an emergency department on Aug. 19. He wrote that he had “terrible coughing fits” and low oxygen.
“I have had my opinions over the last year. I was wrong,” Adams wrote.
He was then hospitalized when his CT scan showed he had bilateral pneumonia in both lungs, Adams told WLWT.
Adams said he was released from the hospital on Monday.
In what he said was not a political post, Adams took to Facebook on Tuesday to share his thoughts from his days in the hospital.
“So hind sight always being better here is my views now recovering from COVID. I messed up,” he wrote. “To do over again I would get the shot. It beat me up bad.”
He still believes people should have the right to choose whether the vaccine is best for them, but he urged his Facebook friends to “make sure you’re not taking the shot just because of political reasons.”
“Do what is best for you,” he continued. “I would not wish this illness on my worst enemy in the world. I can tell you not one politician called or came to see me in the hospital. Choose wisely folks because when your dead and gone from this earth your political views won’t matter a bit but decisions about your health may keep you on the right side of the dirt pile a little longer. Stay safe and healthy.”
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