The aftereffects of COVID-19 have proven to be dangerous for a lot of people, even if they’re in perfect health.
In fact, one U.S. farmer in Nebraska was hospitalized after suffering from a “humongous” blood clot in his lungs due to the virus. He’s now encouraging everyone to “trust the science” and get vaccinated, KPVI reports. While Quentin Bowen avoided catching COVID back in November when his wife and daughter got it, he ended up falling ill in May. He wanted to get the vaccine earlier but didn’t get around to it when it was available to him.
Even after isolating himself and taking Tylenol, his fever remained, with an oxygen monitor showing that his levels were sometimes lower than normal. He discovered he had viral pneumonia in his lungs, and a blood test revealed that his body had high levels of the chemical D-dimer, which indicates a blood clot.
Doctors didn’t see any blood clots initially until he found himself back in the emergency room with low oxygen levels, with a CT scan revealing the clot in his lungs. He spent a week in a Lincoln, Nebraska hospital, where he was given oxygen and blood-thinning medication to ease the clots, calling the one in his lungs “humongous.”
“I would say trust the science, forget the politics and the social media, and get vaccinated,” he told KPVI. “There’s nothing in this vaccine that can do to you what this disease can do to you, so why take the chance?” He wants to get the vaccine as soon as he can, though he has to wait until after his monoclonal antibody treatment.
Unvaccinated Americans are now bearing the brunt of COVID-19 infections, according to a recent study from the Associated Press. The data shows that “breakthrough” infections—people who caught COVID but are completely vaccinated—make up less than 1,200 of the current 853,000 COVID hospitalizations, or 0.1 percent of hospitalizations.
