Hospitalized Vaccine Skeptic Says He's 'Over the Stupid Conspiracies,' Begs People to Have Shots

[babylonsister]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/travis-campbell-says-hes-over-the-stupid-conspiracies-begs-people-to-have-coronavirus-shots?ref=home


Hospitalized Vaccine Skeptic Says He’s ‘Over the Stupid Conspiracies,’ Begs People to Have Shots
‘THOUGHT WE WERE INVINCIBLE’
Jamie Ross, News Correspondent
Published Aug. 04, 2021 5:10AM ET


An unvaccinated Virginia man who thought he was “invincible” is begging Americans to get their COVID-19 shots after he was hospitalized with the virus. Travis Campbell, 43, was admitted to a hospital over a week ago and has been posting videos from his ICU bed. His wife and two children have also fallen sick with the coronavirus. Campbell wrote in one post: “I have never been this sick in my life!! My whole family has COVID, I truly regret not getting the vaccine... I’m over the stupid conspiracies, it’s time to be rational and protective. It’s not worth being stubborn like I did.” His wife, Kellie Campbell, told NBC News: “We just thought we were invincible and we weren’t going to get it... He just doesn’t want anyone to have to endure the pain that he has, and if a vaccine will help them, that’s what they need to do.” Campbell posted a video from pulmonary ICU on Tuesday night, saying he fears that he will have to go on a ventilator, and that his mind has started to turn to plans for his own funeral.

[jpak]

1. I give zero fucks

Yup

[BumRushDaShow]

2. I think some fraction of these types of people

and there are probably a good number of them, were just "lucky" throughout their lives for not getting sick from the flu or on and off colds, and probably had no allergies either. They would often be ones who sortof looked at others like they were stupid, bragging they they "never (or rarely) got sick", and I expect that might have been true. And even if they did catch a cold, they were able to shake it off rather quickly (possibly thanks to a good immune system).

So it leads to a level of cockiness over an extended period of time (years and years), where something like COVID-19, that produces the same types of symptoms as the benign respiratory infections that they were previously able to avoid, easily triggers them to dismiss it... until it's too late. And this is particularly the case with those who were able to get through last year's waves unscathed, and had few if any relatives/coworkers/friends/neighbors impacted by it. That only reinforced the downplaying of the risks.

[Siwsan]

3. I think you have correctly summed them up because I used to be one of them

I'm someone who has never had the flu. I've had some rough bronchial infections, but nothing I couldn't handle. I had shingles but, truthfully, it wasn't that bad. Uncomfortable, for sure, but I never missed a step and carried on, as usual. I never got flu or pneumonia vaccines. I never worried about any of the harsh flu variants, when they were spreading.

But Covid terrifies me. My brother had it, very early in the outbreak. It was a battle, for him, but thankfully he pulled through with no perceivable after effects. I was exposed to it TWICE, when he was at my house and likely VERY contagious, but I either didn't catch it, or was totally asymptomatic.

Regardless, I got both the pneumonia and flu vaccines, last year, and started signing up for the Covid vaccine, as soon as they came out. I got the first shot in February. I'm still masking when I go to stores and am very careful about hand sanitizing. If they recommend boosters, I'll be one of the first in line. I might have a freakishly strong immune system but I really don't think Covid gives a damn about that.

[BumRushDaShow]

11. I remember at my HS graduation many years ago

when one of the students had been honored for not missing one day of school during her 12 years of schooling (1st - 12th grades).

You just have a subset of people who are literally just lucky and/or who if they do contract something, it is mild enough to not impact their quality of life enough to miss school or work, and their bodies are able to recover quickly.

For years I never got a flu vaccine until I suddenly ended up in the hospital on IV steroids and oxygen at the tail end of the swine flu outbreak in 2010, and that convinced me. I had always had on and off bronchitis as a kid, but that 2010 episode lasted more than 6 weeks to the point where I couldn't walk more than about 50 ft before I was gasping for air, resulting in the hospitalization with pneumonia.

[Siwsan]

12. I made it through boot camp with a really wicked bronchial infection

My lungs rattled and people could actually hear me breathe. I remember I was on erythromycin, for starters, and several other medications. I got 1/2 day bedrest - that was it. Some nights other recruits would wake me up because they were so concerned about the noises I was making. My company commander took great care to keep an eye on me.

Yet I made it through all of the physical training tests - including swimming - and ended up being an honor recruit.

But that bronchial infection was the first of MANY I had, for years - usually twice a year. I would go to the doctor, she would put me on several medications, it would clear up and then return, like clock work. I started rebounding off of the antihistamines and could hardly ever sleep.

I finally grew very frustrated and gave up on 'modern medicine'. I started treating myself with very strong garlic and vegetable soup that was so strong it burned. I drank a lot of fluids, including honey and lemon tea, with a bit of whisky, took time off work to rest and used an over the counter cough syrup. That was the last bronchial infection I've ever had.

Mind you, I would NEVER recommend going that route to anyone else - except maybe to supplement medical care with that soup and hot toddies, but it most definitely reset my immune system and I've barely had a sick day since, and it's been years.

[BumRushDaShow]

15. I think in many cases

because the body is an organic entity that needs care and feeding, some of the chronic problems are because of a lack of certain chemical entities and literal "trace elements" (that can be obtained from natural/unprocessed foods) that are needed for proper functioning.

I always chuckle about the plant fertilizers I buy for my potted citrus that have the preferred "trace elements" that the plants need to thrive and it does make a difference. Our bodies are so complex that they are still finding out what the needs are (and even then, it will vary from person to person just due to genetics). Even something as simple as iron (that is a key component in the hemoglobin molecule that makes up blood), or the ratio between the amounts of potassium and sodium (and the controller that moves them across cells) that can be skewed due to diet or as a result of certain medications, are just a few examples (my chemist geek coming out ).

[Siwsan]

16. My grandfather used to eat a couple of cloves of raw garlic, every morning

He'd pop them in his mouth, chew them up and swallow them down. He lived to age 97 and was in really good health until he fell and broke his hip. But even after that, he thrived until he decided it was time for him to go, and then he just sort of faded away. My grandmother had been dead for about 10 years, so he did pretty well.

I've taken up the garlic habit (I grow my own) but I bruise and swallow the clove when I take my morning supplements and medication. I figure it can't hurt!

[BumRushDaShow]

18. Garlic has always been a popular product

whether in cooking (I use it a lot) or as a supplement. I expect it is because of the organic sulfur component, which way in the past before the current antibiotics, were a primary treatment for certain infections (evolving into what were then known as "sulfa drugs" ). There was even some recent research on looking at garlic and how the components can disrupt the various wayward enzymes - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3731019/t

[Demsrule86]

28. I catch colds and flues easily. As a child, both my parents, all their friends and pretty much

everyone smoked. I had bronchitis constantly. Last year, I wore a mask, and I had nothing but a sinus infection at the tail end of Covid. Now I caught Covid from my neighbor who came over crying that she had lost her brother and hugged me...that was it. I wasn't wearing a mask. We had both been sitting at home but she had it and ended up in hospital on a ventilator. She did survive. I did not have to go to the hospital. Although, there were several times when my breathing dropped below what was safe. I just didn't want to go to an overcrowded hospital. I would have gone had the levels remained dangerously low...but through yoga techniques...I somehow made it.

I was alone as my husband was on a business trip when I got it and went and stayed at the other house. I spent Thanksgiving and Christmas alone. I forbade any of my kids to come near me and refused to open the door when they tried to come. I didn't care about the holidays...I was that sick. It was February before I had a clear test. I decided even before the new variant, I would wear a mask this year so as NOT to get the flu.

[BumRushDaShow]

29. Ugh

It's one of those things where you were at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Growing up I remember one of my sisters used to always catch colds and get strep throat - and in many cases tonsillitis. She ended up eventually having her tonsils out at 18, which (at the time) was one of those rare things having done at that age, but it did help her.

I know in parts of the country like the west coast with the wildfires, you have that smoke and soot that can irritate, and I expect that extra mucus trying to clear the irritants can become a perfect incubator for all kinds of viruses or bacteria.

Masking definitely can help reduce the inhalation of all kinds of stuff. I know I keep HEPA air-purifiers running 24/7 here at home. I had originally got them at a previous residence (apartment) that had a fire and the soot/smoke lingered for months and months and they really helped.

[Deminpenn]

19. Rarely sick either

Survived the childhood diseases of my generation, measels, chickenpox, mumps although I did get the required vaccines for school and for polio as a baby. Never had flu or pneumonia shots. But figured SARS-CoV2 was different and got vaccinated as soon as my age group came around. Be happy to sign up for a booster if that turns out to be needed.

[Siwsan]

20. The only childhood vaccinations I got were small pox and polio and maybe whooping cough.

I had measles, mumps and chicken pox - never got really sick from any of them.

When I was young, all of us neighborhood kids were outside from sun up to sun down, except for meals. We played in the woods, in the fields, in the creeks, one of which was really little more than a drainage ditch, got all the usual scrapes and cuts while playing in those areas so I figured my immune system had plenty of opportunity to grow robust.

[Deminpenn]

26. Same here

I think now scientists are understanding better that being exposed to germs as a kid helps more than it hurts.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

40. Same with me.

I also got influenza several times growing up, one of which was probably the Asian Flu in 1957.

People really are learning the wrong lesson from the masking of the last year and a half. A lot of people here are giddy about not getting flu or any colds during this time, and say they'll continue to mask.

Our immune system is designed to be challenged, to be exposed to stuff, and most of the time recover. Modern medicine keeps people alive who before would have died young. Or survive things they would previously not have survived. It's nice for all of us still alive, but there's a worrisome trade-off.

[viva la]

5. That's what u keep hearing from them

They brag that they have a really strong immune system, they never get sick, don't have diabetes and aren't overweight, so they're not susceptible.

I had no such arrogance, because I get every cold that's around. Even so, I think maybe most of us old enough to have had measles and chicken pox know that an immune system isn't enough when a lot if people around have a virus.

We also noticed in real time how infections drop off after a vax program... suddenly almost no one is getting polio and measles anymore.

[BumRushDaShow]

13. I think there are quite a few who are like that -

although some go that extra mile to being arrogant about it and using it as a cudgel to berate anyone else who might get sick.

You do have people who may have been raised in rural areas or small towns who were home-schooled, so they had little or no close contact with hundreds of other children over the years, and managed to escape many of the childhood diseases. Plus since they weren't attending some state/county/municipal school that might have required vaccinations, they didn't need to be vaccinated. In fact, there are many who are in sects who basically home-school and avoid "outside" contact (which can also be a detriment if something hits in their communities).

Then when some left that environment, they may have still been in positions where they were not cooped up in old, poorly ventilated buildings that can exasperate infections.

But with COVID, we're talking a whole different situation because of what it can do in your body outside of the lungs.

[viva la]

37. And of course never getting colds and the flu might

Be bad for an immune system... doesn't get any practice.

[Walleye]

6. Course he was also healthy all his life due to childhood immunizations

[obamanut2012]

9. Because they had childhood vax that gave them a good immune system

The irony.

[brewens]

4. If I'm not around for the big event, good riddance in advance. One concern only. How many

people did that piece of shit spread it to before it grew some brain cells?

[Roland99]

7. See the perfect image here

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215689761

[BumRushDaShow]

17. That's like the type of attitude that Scalise had

after literally being on his death bed with his vital organs torn up and hip shattered by bullets. Yet he came back worse than ever to oppose any kind of gun control, while still hobbling into Congress every day using a cane.

He did finally catch a clue (after his state was one of the ones leading the nation in per capital infections) and finally got a first shot just a few weeks ago - https://www.klfy.com/louisiana/louisiana-congressman-steve-scalise-gets-covid-shot/

[obamanut2012]

8. I feel bad for his minor children, that's it

[TheFarseer]

10. He probably got paid off by Bill Gates

Have fun being magnetic and having Nancy Pelosi spy on you loser.

[NurseJackie]

14. I'm having a hard time caring.

[Harker]

21. Another 'come to Fauci' moment. n/t

[33taw]

22. He didn't listen to millions of stories before him, why does he expect anyone to listen to him?

[tanyev]

31. These anecdotes remind me of a parable in the Bible that expresses the same sentiment.

Luke 16:19-31

The Rich Man and Lazarus

19 Jesus said, “There was a rich man who always dressed in the finest clothes. He was so rich that he was able to enjoy all the best things every day. 20 There was also a very poor man named Lazarus. Lazarus’ body was covered with sores. He was often put by the rich man’s gate. 21 Lazarus wanted only to eat the scraps of food left on the floor under the rich man’s table. And the dogs came and licked his sores.

22 “Later, Lazarus died. The angels took him and placed him in the arms of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 He was sent to the place of death[a] and was in great pain. He saw Abraham far away with Lazarus in his arms. 24 He called, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me! Send Lazarus to me so that he can dip his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am suffering in this fire!’

25 “But Abraham said, ‘My child, remember when you lived? You had all the good things in life. But Lazarus had nothing but problems. Now he is comforted here, and you are suffering. 26 Also, there is a big pit between you and us. No one can cross over to help you, and no one can come here from there.’

27 “The rich man said, ‘Then please, father Abraham, send Lazarus to my father’s house on earth. 28 I have five brothers. He could warn my brothers so that they will not come to this place of pain.’

29 “But Abraham said, ‘They have the Law of Moses and the writings of the prophets to read; let them learn from that.’

30 “The rich man said, ‘No, father Abraham! But if someone came to them from the dead, then they would decide to change their lives.’

31 “But Abraham said to him, ‘If your brothers won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t listen to someone who comes back from the dead.’”

[johnthewoodworker]

23. I bet this guy loves Trumptard.

[ecstatic]

24. I appreciate the ones who convert and try to get the word out in their final days

Some people are in denial until the bitter end.

[Pinback]

42. Yes, I remember the Yul Brenner anti-smoking ad.

In his final days, dying of lung cancer, the actor taped a message for the American Cancer Society to discourage smoking. It was very effective when it originally aired in 1985, because he was a beloved actor who was still seemingly in his prime at age 65.

The video of this Virginia guy in his hospital bed was harrowing and pathetic. I hope it will influence some people to get vaccinated while they still can, and I hope he survives his current hospital stay.

[CaptainTruth]

25. If only our education system focused on teaching critical thinking skills....

...there would be a lot less people making stupid choices & we could all have more nice things.

If we continue to ignore that root cause, we will continue to suffer the effects.

[Bengus81]

27. LOL!! Right....until he recovers and back home on Qanon and watching FOX 24/7

[tanyev]

30. Unfortunately in the time it takes one person to have an epiphany,

Covid has moved on to infect hundreds, even thousands, more.

[greenjar_01]

32. Between all the January 6 dipshits in their mid-40s and all these vaccine hesitant dummies in their

mid-40s, something went terribly wrong with Gen-X.

"We just thought we were invincible and we weren’t going to get it..." How fucking stupid do you have to be to simply assume you are not going to contract a highly contagious virus as you take no precautions to avoid it?

[lagomorph777]

35. I don't really think it's generational. We see COVIDIOTS of all ages.

[greenjar_01]

36. For sure, but Gen X folks seem particularly susceptible to the dumbest strains of Trumpism

Something happened.

[maxsolomon]

38. I'm right on the cusp of Boomer & GenX ('63)

I think it's about even between generations.

It's sad; I used to have optimism that the next generations would be more compassionate, more intelligent and not buy GQP snake oil. Pretty naive, but I was young. Human intelligence stays about the same: distressingly limited.

What they are is Propaganda Victims.

[roamer65]

33. Natural selection at work.

[lagomorph777]

34. My sympathies

go to the children they victimized.

I don't give a shit about this pimple and his wife, the boil.

[Raftergirl]

39. Tots and Pears.

[Caliman73]

41. It is a human condition.

I took a Learning Psychology class in undergraduate and the first lecture, the professor asked the class, "How many of you think that you will never get a venereal disease?" 95% of the 200 person lecture hall raised their hands. At the time the rates of infection for STD was one in 3 or 33%. So, while it is entirely possible that no one in that particular class, in that particular lecture hall, would ever get a venereal disease, statistically it was likely that at least 60 of us would.

Humans tend to think that they are the outlier in situations where there is risk. In another post, similar to this, I said that this bias, tends to be an evolutionary trait in humans. It has allowed people to do risky things that have benefited the group, while obviously claiming lives. We hunted animals larger and deadlier than ourselves, likely knowing the risk but thinking that we would be the outlier and come back alive, with meat for the group.

It is obviously a double edged sword in that it allows us to function in a dangerous world, but in this time of rapid global travel and high population density, it turns against us because people do not consider prevention of risk by simple public health measures like wearing a mask to stop the spread of highly transmissible disease.