An ER nurse who contracted the virus for a second time after being vaccinated has a chilling message for those who haven’t had the jab yet.
A vaccinated ER nurse, who contracted Covid-19 for the second time at work, has shared the brutal reality of the virus in a bid to inspire the unvaccinated to get jabbed.
US woman Bri has been documenting her coronavirus symptoms on TikTok, comparing it to her experience the first time she had the illness. During that bout of Covid, which happened before she was vaccinated, the virus was so severe she was unable to work for months.
With this second infection, over the course of 10 days, Bri has experienced cardiac issues and required hospital treatment as well as horrendous headaches, shortness of breath and extreme fatigue. But she was hopeful of bouncing back a lot quicker this time around.
The young nurse has said that despite “feeling better than the first time” after having the Moderna vaccination along with monoclonal antibodies, the experience has still been “horrible”. But she stressed it would be “much worse” if she’d still been unvaccinated.
Covid vaccines are the most effective form of treating coronavirus and preventing serious illness and death.
While rare, it is still possible to contract Covid more than once, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
But if you contract the virus after being vaccinated, it dramatically reduces severe disease, hospitalisation and death as well as the chances of developing long Covid.
In early videos about her second battle with the virus, the 20-year-old said contracting it was almost inevitable given her line of work, stating she planned to “kick Covid’s butt” as it had kicked hers last time.
“Right now I just have a cough, runny nose, sore throat, coarseness and a really bad headache,” she said.
“I’m hoping my symptoms stay like this as last time I had cardiac issues and I went really ‘tachy’ all the time. I was put on metoprolol [a blood pressure medication] at 19 years old and I don’t think I can do that again.”
The medical term “tachy” refers to having fast, rapid breathing and a matching heartbeat and is a common side effect of coronavirus.
For Bri, who shares videos of her life as a new nurse on a hospital emergency ward under the username @bribrithenurse, her second infection sadly did worsen before it got better.
On day two she was struggling to breathe and had to visit the hospital for a monoclonal antibodies infusion, a dose of lab-engineered immune system proteins that kickstart an immune response against an infection – a treatment which is being widely used in the US.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) recently approved the treatment for use in Australia with the Government securing an initial allocation of over 7700 doses.
The sotrovimab treatment requires a single dose to be administered through an intravenous (IV) infusion in a health care facility and has been shown to reduce hospitalisation or death by 79 per cent in adults with mild to moderate Covid, who are at risk of developing severe symptoms.
Even with the treatment, it took Bri 10 days to start to feel better, with the nurse telling followers she was “thankful” for having her vaccinations and the antibodies infusion. She also said her first round of Covid “kept me out of work for a few months” but she was hopeful she’d be back working soon after this second infection.
Many thanked Bri for sharing her experience, stating it highlighted how important it is to get vaccinated.
“Imagine how bad this would have been without your jabs,” one said.
“So glad you’re feeling better, this could have been so much worse,” another agreed.
Continue the conversation @RebekahScanlan | [email protected]
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