'Don't put your family through the pain': Councilman who lost brother to COVID-19 urges vaccination
LOS ANGELES - Baldwin Park City Councilmember Daniel Damian is encouraging others to get vaccinated after recently losing his brother to COVID-19.
Last month, Damian hadn't been vaccinated. Neither was his brother, Antonio. They had doubts, they questioned the need and the safety of the vaccine.
"Unfortunately, we made the mistake to wait too long and now we are paying the consequences," Damian told FOX 11.
Antonio contracted COVID-19 over the Fourth of July weekend and was later taken to the hospital. He spent the final two weeks of his life there, telling Damian, with his final breath, "Brother, we take life for granted."
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Shortly after that, after his brother's death, Damian got vaccinated.
Now, he wants to get the word out to everyone else that has been reluctant, hesitant or afraid, to get the vaccine before it's too late.
"I strongly believe that if we would not have waited as long as we waited, I think that my brother would still be here with us," Damian told Good Day LA anchor Michaela Pereira.
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"Don't put your family through the pain that we're going through. I decided to use my family's pain to send this message out, a clear message, you know, get vaccinated. The vaccines work. We have to trust the science," he added.
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