[imagesource:here]

This is a touchy story for anyone who has a family member standing firm against getting vaccinated.

A folk singer from the Czech Republic was vehemently against getting the jab but was happy to intentionally catch the virus from her vaccinated husband and son when they came down with the sickness.

She was fine for a bit, thinking that she had survived the worst of it.

And then Hana Horka, 57, passed away.

Her son, Jan Rek, wants to tell the story to at least persuade others out there that the vaccine is worth it, saying via the BBC:

“If you have living examples from real life, it’s more powerful than just graphs and numbers. You can’t really sympathise with numbers.”

Here he is with his mom:

Image: Horka family / BBC

Life without getting the vaccine in Europe is tough, with new restrictions punishing the unvaccinated with no entry to things like concerts, bars, movies, and gyms.

Horkad was no longer able to perform with her popular band Asonance, the oldest folk band in the country, as she had to have a vaccination or proof of recovery from COVID-19 to enter the performance venues.

She thus decided that it was a good idea to infect herself when her husband and son became sick with COVID-19 so that she could get a health pass:

“Her philosophy was that she was more OK with the idea of catching COVID than getting vaccinated. Not that we would get microchipped or anything like that,” Rek told the BBC

…”She should have isolated for a week because we tested positive. But she was with us the whole time,” he said.

She seemed to be on the road to recovery, even posting on Facebook that she had made it through the worst, per The Daily Beast:

“I survived… It was intense,” she wrote. “So now there will be the theatre, sauna, a concert… and an urgent trip to the sea.”

Two days later, on Sunday morning as she got up for a walk, she suddenly felt immense back pain and went to lie down on her bed:

“In about 10 minutes it was all over,” her son said. “She choked to death”.

Rek is convinced that the loud anti-vax movement in parts of Europe is to blame, saying that the movement has blood on its hands:

“I know exactly who influenced her… It makes me sad that she believed strangers more than her proper family,” he said. “It wasn’t just total disinformation but also views on natural immunity and antibodies acquired through infection.”

He said he tried to speak to his mom about it, but that the conversation always became too emotional and it felt like there was no point.

Now, he hopes that his story will show people that catching the virus is never a recommended way to get a health pass or confront this pandemic.

[sources:bbc&dailybeast]