Covid-19 sceptic dies from the virus after being 'put off' getting the jab by anti-vaxxers

29 August 2021, 14:47

A Covid-19 sceptic who turned down being vaccinated against the virus has died, his devastated wife said.

Marcus Birks, 40 died on Friday after he was admitted to the intensive care unit at Royal Stoke University Hospital earlier this month.

Before his death he had urged other people to get vaccinated against the virus.

Mrs Birks wrote on Facebook: "The pain I feel writing this is unbearable, my heart has been ripped out, my soul and world completely and utterly shattered.

My husband, my best-friend, my soulmate, Marcus passed away yesterday morning."

Marcus had been expecting a baby boy in November with wife Lis.

"I made him a promise that I will tell our baby boy everyday how much he loves him, how special he is and how he would have been/is the best dad a son could ever wish for," his wife said.

Earlier this month his mother said the family was "in bits."

She told StokeTrentLive: "He thought it was everybody’s choice if they wanted to have the vaccine or not.

"He is a health freak and he likes to go to the gym all the time. He is 100% healthy. He doesn’t like taking paracetamol.

“It was his choice at the time not to take the vaccine. Now he wishes he had taken it.

“He is in hospital very poorly with Covid and blood clots. It’s a bit of a bad time what he is going through at the moment."

Not long before his death Mr Birks said: "If you haven't been ill, you don't think you're going to get ill, so you listen to the [anti-vaccine] stuff.

"When you feel like you can't get enough breath, it's the scariest feeling in the world."

He said information had been skewed by social media and conspiracy theorists and he had not had the vaccine.