Unvaccinated Man Almost Killed by COVID Regrets Not Getting Shots: 'I Was Terribly Wrong'

An unvaccinated Georgia man has said he regrets not getting his COVID-19 shots after almost dying as a result of the disease.

Fifty-six-year-old Jeff Adams, from the city of Covington, told FOX 5 Atlanta that he contracted COVID-19 at the concert of a friend's band at the American Legion in Conyers in August, 2021.

At this point Adams was not vaccinated. He said he had decided against getting the shots because a blood test in July that year revealed that he had COVID-19 antibodies, indicating a prior infection.

As such, he believed that he did not need to get vaccinated.

But he has now spoken about his experience with the disease and said that he regrets his decision.

"I can tell you conclusively that is the worst decision of my life," he told FOX 5. "I'm a person who has never been sick much at all in my life, and I thought I didn't have to worry about it. But, boy, was I wrong. I was terribly wrong."

Adams said that within days of the concert he became extremely sick and delirious. Eventually, his mother and daughter convinced him to visit to the emergency department at Piedmont Rockdale Hospital in Conyers.

"I was very near death, shortly after I got to the hospital," Adams said. "I had waited too long, but I don't even remember that. There is about a six-week period of my life, beginning on August 8, that I have no memory of at all."

Dr. Shimool Rabbani, a physician at the hospital who treated Adams, said he was one of the sickest COVID-19 patients he had seen over the past two years.

The 56-year-old was in acute respiratory failure and needed to be placed on a mechanical ventilator in the ICU.

Adams also has two health issues that put him at high risk of becoming severely ill from COVID-19. "I was 305 pounds and diabetic. And, that didn't help at all," he said.

Adams ended up spending 88 days in hospital and had to be resuscitated on five separate occasions. During his hospital stay, he was on a ventilator for five weeks and was also in a coma for five weeks.

"I came as near death as anybody," he said. "There was probably a six- to eight-week period of terrible pain, I mean excruciating pain. I couldn't get out of bed. I couldn't walk. I could barely speak."

Adams is now is now back at home but he faces a long recovery, and still requires a tracheostomy tube.

"I can walk a limited amount. I can get in and out of my hospital bed, I have a medical bed at home. I'm receiving home healthcare and coming to the hospital once every two weeks to have a surgery wound addressed," he said.

Adams is now urging people who have not been vaccinated to get their shots.

"Ever since I've regained consciousness and could speak, I've told everybody I can to go get the vaccine, because it's that important," he said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), people who have recovered from COVID-19 will have some protection from repeat infections. But reinfections can still occur in these individuals, and in some cases they can be serious. New virus variants may also increase the risk of reinfection.

All COVID-19 vaccines continue to be highly effective in protecting against severe illness. As such, the CDC recommends vaccination for all people aged five years or older, including individuals who have been infected before.