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24-Year-Old Unvaccinated Father Dies of COVID: 'Would Not Wish This on My Worst Enemy'

patrick burshia
patrick burshia

Patrick Burshia

A 24-year-old father who regretted not getting vaccinated died of COVID-19, and being hospitalized caused him to say that he "would not wish this on my worst enemy."

Patrick Burshia, from Montana, opted against getting vaccinated based on what he was reading online and hearing from friends, "that the vaccine was not a real vaccine, that it was like a tracking chip that the government was trying to use on us," he told NBC News.

"I, much like a lot of people in my age group, didn't really have a whole lot of proper information. I was hearing a lot of propaganda, saying like, COVID is a conspiracy theory, it's not real."

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But after contracting COVID-19, Burshia struggled to breathe and had to be hospitalized. He realized that what he had heard was "just a whole bunch of crap that isn't true. This is very real, it's very scary."

Speaking with NBC News from his hospital room at Billings Clinic on Sept. 1, Burshia said he "100%" regrets not getting vaccinated."

"As soon as I can, I'm getting the vaccine," he said. "And I highly recommend anyone who hasn't to do it, because this is a very scary situation."

But in mid-September, Burshia's condition worsened, and he was placed on a ventilator.

"Every time we moved him, we weren't sure if the end was going to be in that moment, and so I just wanted to be there to hold his hand," one of his nurses, Chrissy Baxter, told the outlet.

And the weekend of Sept. 18, Burshia died from COVID-19, leaving behind his young son. He was a week away from turning 25.

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