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A distraught mother in the United States has urged sceptics of the Covid-19 shots to get vaccinated after losing two of her sons to the virus in a span of 12 hours.
Lisa Brandon, from Jacksonville in Florida, caught Covid in late July along with her two adult sons, 40-year-old Free and 35-year-old Aaron.
She was vaccinated. They were not. And while she only suffered from a mild case of the virus, their condition deteriorated quickly.
Brandon took them to hospital, where it emerged that both men had double pneumonia. They were admitted to the intensive care unit, both ended up on ventilators, and Free was placed in an induced coma.
Free died on August 12. Aaron followed him on August 13, less than 12 hours later.
Speaking through tears to her local station, WJAX-TV, Ms Brandon said the death of her two remaining sons was "too horrible" and "a parent's worst nightmare".
"My boys, they were my life. That's all I lived for, was for them.
"I believe they would be alive today if they would have got their shot. You know, they wouldn't have got it as bad.
"And I just wish I could have made them do it. And now it's too late."
Brandon's close friend Brittany Pequignot has set up a GoFundMe page to help her get through the tragedy. It has raised US$41,000 ($56,000) so far.
"Lisa is distraught and heartbroken," Pequignot wrote.
"She is never one to ask anybody for anything, yet she is always helping everyone around her. She is now faced with the daunting task of figuring out how to arrange funerals for both of her boys by herself.
"I know this past year-and-a-half has been a trying time for all of us, and some of us have lost people due to Covid, but Lisa has suffered more than most. To have to bury three children in a lifetime is unimaginable.
"I hope this story reaches you and inspires you to not only help, but to pray for her during this terrible time in her life. Any little bit helps and is greatly appreciated."
"Get vaccinated. Please," Brandon said.
"The only reason I'm doing this is to get the word out, please get vaccinated."
A distraught Lisa Brandon spoke to her local TV station, urging others to get the vaccine. Photo / WJAX-TV
The Covid vaccines have been free and widely available in the US for many months now, yet only half of the country's population is fully vaccinated.
About two-third of people have had at least one dose. Among the remaining third, millions of people are refusing to get vaccinated at all.
As a result, hospitals across the country are flooded with unvaccinated patients suffering from the Delta variant, and some ICU departments are at full capacity. Stories of people dying from the virus when they could have been protected from it are tragically common.
In Alabama, one of the lowest-vaccinated and hardest-hit states, a 32-year-old nurse and her unborn child died from Covid on Friday.
Haley Mulkey Richardson was pregnant with her second child. She left behind her husband and a daughter, Katie, who is about to turn 3.
"After about three of four days in the hospital, the doctor told her that she was going to lose the baby. And she continued to get worse and worse," family friend Jason Whatley told the local news site Al.com.
"At some point, they basically told her that we've got to start treating you as if you didn't have a child. We've got to do what we can for you, because the baby is going to pass away anyway."
Richardson was put on a ventilator. Her unborn daughter, Ryleigh Beth, died on August 18. Richardson followed two days later.
Whatley said she was healthy before catching Covid, but had not been vaccinated.
"They wished she'd been vaccinated. But outside of that, when she got sick, they did all the right things. And she still died," he said.
Ms Richardson leaves behind a two-year-old daughter. Photo / Supplied
Richardson's mother said she had been hesitant to get the vaccine because of past anaphylactic reactions and "all the negative reporting".
"What was she to believe about what the vaccine would do to reproduction?" she said.
"Stuff about that it would destroy a female's eggs and that kind of thing, and she wanted to have her second baby. That made her afraid to get it."
There is no evidence that the vaccines affect a woman's fertility. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and other health authorities recommend getting vaccinated at any stage of pregnancy.
Richardson's mother and sister have now decided to get the vaccine and are urging others to do the same.
Another example: conservative radio host Phil Valentine, a prominent media figure in Tennessee, repeatedly told his listeners they weren't at any great risk of dying from Covid and they shouldn't get vaccinated. Then he caught the virus himself.
"Yes, the rumours are true. I have Covid. Unfortunately for the haters out there, it looks like I'm going to make it. Interesting experience," Valentine wrote on Facebook in mid-July.
A week later, he was hospitalised with pneumonia. He died on August 21.
In late July, Valentine's brother Mark said he wanted his listeners to know he regretted "not being more vehemently pro-vaccine".
"Please go get vaccinated," he said.
The US is currently averaging 148,000 new Covid infections per day, the highest that figure has been since the start of February. Nine hundred Americans are dying each day.
