California
After two months in a coma: Former vaccination opponent calls for vaccinations
Covid-19 patient in a coma
© Cedrick Isham Calvados / AFP
An American woman refused to be vaccinated against Covid-19 – until she infected herself and fell into a coma. Despite little chance, she survived and is now promoting vaccinations.
Andrea Arriaga Borges tested positive for the coronavirus in May 2021. The American was not vaccinated and developed a severe course – so severe that she had to go to the intensive care unit just a few days after the infection. There she was put into a coma.
“I was in a coma for 65 days and a total of four and a half months in the hospital,” the 48-year-old Californian told the US news broadcaster CNN about her time of suffering. “I couldn’t walk. I lost my motor skills and my muscles, lost about 17 kilograms and when I came home in a wheelchair I had to learn to walk again.”
Five percent chance of survival
In the meantime, the doctors put the chances of survival for the mother of five at only five percent. Borges had clearly underestimated the disease and therefore had not been vaccinated against Covid-19. “I thought I would be sick for four or five days and then I would be fine. But it didn’t go that way,” she told CNN. She still suffers from the aftermath today. Her voice is still damaged due to the long time she was ventilated through a tube and could not speak.
Before she became ill, she was against the vaccination, admits Borges. After all, she was healthy and had no previous illnesses. In the meantime – after this drastic experience on her own body – her opinion has changed. Andrea Arriaga Borges is now publicly promoting to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
“I don’t want anyone to have to go through what I’ve been through,” she says. “I can only say: Get an extra layer of protection, get vaccinated and boosted. I believe that everyone should decide for themselves, but at the same time it is also about protecting yourself and others.”
Source: CNN