Dying Anti-Vaxxer’s Final Request Was For Friends To Get COVID-19 Vaccine

KEY POINTS

A 33-year-old Georgia man who refused to get vaccinated died in a hospital last week after a battle with COVID-19
He urged family and friends to get vaccinated in his final posts on social media
He said he was told by doctors in the hospital that they had not had to admit any vaccinated person so far

A 33-year-old man in Coweta County, Georgia, who died from COVID-19-induced pneumonia last week urged people to get vaccinated in one of his final social media posts.

Kevin McKenzie, of Senoia, died Thursday at Piedmont Newnan Hospital, WSB-TV reported.

His three-week battle with COVID-19 "demolished his lungs, and his body couldn't fight [anymore]," McKenzie's fiancée, Lori Minatree, wrote in a social media post announcing his death.

In his second-to-the-last post on Facebook, McKenzie, who had refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine prior to his hospital stay, urged his family and friends to learn from his experience and get vaccinated.

"I’ve had plenty of people reach out praying for me and asking if I need anything, and I appreciate every bit of it. Please keep those prayers coming. But yes, there is something I want everyone to do for me that I was too damn stubborn to do, and that’s if you haven’t yet done so, go get your COVID vaccine," McKenzie wrote in his Aug. 24 post, alongside a photo of him being strapped to a ventilator.

"When I was getting admitted into the hospital, there were four different doctors who told me they had not had to admit one single vaccinated person. Trust me, you don’t want to be where I [am] now, and as soon as I get over this, I’ll be getting my vaccine," he added.

See posts, photos and more on Facebook.

Minatree said she hopes her fiancé's plea helped save other people.

"[The] last post he made from the hospital said that he was too stubborn to get vaccinated and asked everyone who isn’t vaccinated to do so. He won’t even know how his story saved so many lives because [of] the amount of people who are getting vaccinated after hearing his battle!" Minatree said on Facebook.

McKenzie's last post on the social media platform, which was from Aug. 24, showed a note from the fortune cookie that he said came with the Chinese food Minatree had delivered to the hospital. The message read, "Good health is a man's best wealth."

See posts, photos and more on Facebook.

Family members described McKenzie as a fun-loving guy who loved to ride his motorcycle, visit amusement parks, go camping and being an adopted uncle to his friends' children, according to WSB-TV. He was reportedly a father figure to Minatree's two daughters.

McKenzie's funeral was scheduled to take place Sunday in Peachtree City. A group of fellow bikers reportedly planned to escort his body to the funeral home.

The U.S. has recorded 40 million COVID-19 cases and 648,000 deaths as of Monday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.