COVID-19 Patients Locally Are Wishing They Had Gotten the Vaccine After Getting Hospitalized

Local doctors in Midland and Odessa are saying the same thing when talking about patients they have admitted to the hospital with the Delta variant.

According to NewsWest 9, with hospitalizations on the increase area doctors are reporting the regret from younger people they are admitting to the hospital for not getting the COVID vaccine.

"The difference we are seeing in this surge is that the older, more high risked population, is vaccinated," said Dr. Rohith Saravanan, Chief Medical Officer for Odessa Regional Medical Center. "Therefore we are seeing the younger population be hospitalized. We are seeing more of the younger population require that intense level of care."

They are wishing they had gotten vaccinated when they had the chance, but it is too late when they are admitted.

"'I am so sorry that I did not get vaccinated. Sorry for myself that I did not get vaccinated when I could have,'" Dr. Saravanan said as he described the experience of patients. "Their request to the people out there is please go get vaccinated. It's not just one or two stories, it's a bunch of people that are in the hospital that will give you that."

Dr. Saravanan is asking people to think of the frontline workers when deciding if you want to get vaccinated or not.

"The biggest sentiment that I hear from our team that cares for COVID patients is 'Oh no.... not again,'" said Dr. Saravanan. "They have really been burnt out taking care of these very very sick patients in the last two surges."

My advice, get the vaccine I got it back in April and I have not grown an extra toe or had random convulsions or whatever myth is circulating today about the vaccine, it is safe and it will keep you from getting on a ventilator and getting gravely ill.

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