A conservative talk radio host from Tennessee changed his previously skeptical messages about vaccines after being hospitalized with COVID-19, his family said.
Phil Valentine, who posted on social media to discourage his audience from getting vaccinated unless they “threaten to die” from COVID, was hospitalized in intensive care and receiving extra oxygen, but is not on one Ventilator. according to his brother.
Valentine told audience members after he was diagnosed – but before he was hospitalized – that he chose not to get a COVID vaccine because he thought he probably wouldn’t die from the disease.
His brother, Mark Valentine, said on WWTN-FM in Nashville this week that his brother was never an “opponent of Vaxx” but was “pro-information” and “pro-choice” on the vaccine.
“First, he regrets that he was not a staunch advocate of vaccination,” said Mark Valentine. “For those of you listening, I know if he could tell you this he would tell you, ‘Go get vaccinated. Stop worrying about politics. Stop worrying about all the conspiracy theories. ‘”
In December 2020, when vaccines were just beginning to hit the market in the US, Phil Valentine wrote in a blog post that he probably had a very slim chance of developing COVID.
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Tennessee has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, and new cases rose in July as the highly prevalent Delta variant now accounts for the majority of cases in the country.
Mark Valentine said he was vaccinated following his brother’s illness. A family post on the broadcaster’s Facebook page said that Valentine plans to campaign for vaccinations once he recovers and returns to the airwaves.
“Please keep praying for his recovery and PLEASE HAVE BEEN VACCINATED!” said his family in the statement.
Contribution: The Associated Press
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