The mum of three is now recovering at home. Photo / A Current Affair, Channel 9
The mum of three is now recovering at home. Photo / A Current Affair, Channel 9
Sydney woman Amanda Gulasi was a proud anti-vaxxer who didn't believe in the Covid-19 pandemic – until she caught the virus herself and wound up struggling to breathe in hospital.
Now she has completely changed her tune, and begged Australians to take the virus seriously and get vaccinated during an emotional interview with A Current Affair.
Appearing on the programme on Monday night, the mother of three, who is now recovering in her southwest Sydney home, said she regretted her previous stance.
"Vaccinate people, vaccinate. No, seriously, it's not fun," she said.
"At the start of Covid, I was completely on the side of the conspiracy theorists.
"Now I definitely believe it, and it will kill you. It is true, it is real."
Amanda Gulasi could have been first in line for the jab, but she refused. Photo / A Current Affair, Channel 9
Gulasi told reporters that as a disability support worker, she had access to the vaccine from the first days of the roll out, but had refused as she thought Covid was "just another flu".
"Like, we get flu all the time … But this is nothing like the flu. It's not like any flu, as days go by, instead of getting better you seem to get worse," she said.
"The symptoms [have] a mind of its own, it's like it has a life of its own. It's so hard to explain it until you've experienced it."
She explained that she was hesitant to take the vaccine due to how fast they were produced and because of the so-called "scare tactics" used to try and encourage vaccinations.
But she said she now regretted that belief.
"It's just not worth for a few side effects," she said.
The mum of three is now recovering at home. Photo / A Current Affair, Channel 9
The 42-year-old, who said she was normally fit and healthy, said she was now concerned for older or less healthy people who caught the virus.
"I would hate to be somebody who is elderly and be feeling the way I feel, or somebody who is at risk.
"Like, I am very healthy, and this virus has knocked me to the ground."
She urged the public not to fall for vaccine misinformation.
"Don't believe what you're seeing on social media," she said.
"Pray it doesn't happen to you, pray it doesn't happen to be a possible death sentence."
Gulasi's message comes as NSW hit yet another grim record, recording 1290 cases today and four new deaths.
So far in Australia's latest outbreak, the overwhelming majority of deaths have been among the unvaccinated, with some receiving just one dose before succumbing to the virus.
And sadly, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said things would get worse before they got better, warning that October would be the "worst month" for NSW.
"We anticipate that the worst month, the worst time for our intensive care unit will be in October.
"October is likely to be our worse month in terms of pressure on the system and that is why we have been gearing up for that and we have been nearly two years. Our hospital system is under pressure. Will we need to do things differently? Of course, we will."
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says October will be the 'worst month'. Photo / Getty Images
Anti-vaxxers' death bed regret
As the deadly Delta variant wreaks havoc across Australia and the globe, stories like Gulasi's have become increasingly common, with a number of high profile anti-vaxxers losing their battle against the virus recently and coming to regret their position only after it was too late.
Over the weekend, US radio host Marc Bernier, who called himself "Mr Anti-vax", died from the virus in a Florida hospital.
Texas man Caleb Wallace, who had organised anti-mask protests in support of "freedom", also died aged 30 last week, leaving behind three children and a pregnant wife, while over in the UK, Covid denier and father-to-be Marcus Birks also died aged 40.
