Man who mocked vaccination efforts on social media dies due to COVID-19

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LOS ANGELES – A man who mocked Covid-19 vaccinations died this week in a Los Angeles-area hospital after contracting the virus.

Stephen Harmon was 34 years old.

Harmon died Wednesday at Corona Regional Medical Center, about an hour’s drive east of Los Angeles.

Corona Regional Medical Center in Corona, California, where Stephen Harmon, 34, was admitted, before his death.

Stephen Harmon posted pictures of himself in his hospital bed, writing that he had pneumonia, had extremely low oxygen levels and was about to be intubated. In a tweet Wednesday, Harmon wrote: “I don’t know when I’m going to wake up, please pray,” KCBS-TV reported.

Three days before his death, Harmon tweeted: “If you don’t have faith that God can cure me of my stupid ventilator, keep the hell out of my ICU, there’s no place here for fear or lack of faith!

Before he was admitted to the hospital, Harmon mocked the vaccination efforts on social media.

“I have 99 issues but not one email issue,” he said in a tweet last month.

On July 8, he wrote: “Biden’s ‘vaccine surveyors’ should be called ‘Jickofed witnesses.’ #keepmovingdork.”

Dr. Oren Friedman, who treats Covid-19 patients at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, told KCBS-TV that Harmon’s death was “incredibly disappointing,” and said the number of Covid-19 admissions had multiplied tenfold.

“Not practically everyone who is sick enough to be hospitalized is vaccinated,” Friedman said.

California has seen rising numbers of Covid-19 infections, led by the highly contagious delta variant that has spread since the state fully reopened the economy last month. The vast majority of new cases are among unvaccinated people, and health officials have appealed to people to get the injections.

On Friday, the state’s Department of Public Health reported nearly 8,000 new cases the day before, and the seven-day test-positive rate jumped to more than 5 percent after dropping to less than 1 percent just a few weeks ago.

Los Angeles County, which has about a quarter of the state’s population, reported more than 3,000 new cases for the first time since February. There have been 655 people infected with Covid-19 in hospitals, a jump of more than 200 people in a week, according to county numbers.

Harmon attended Heilong Church in Los Angeles.

Founder Brian Houston called him “one of the most generous people I know.”

“As a church, our focus is on the spiritual well-being of people in each of our local communities. On any medical issue, we strongly encourage those in our church to follow the guidance of their physicians,” Houston said in a statement to KCBS-TV. have already received the Covid vaccine, we recognize this is a personal decision for each individual to make with the advice of medical professionals.”

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