Mario Tama/Getty Images
- An Idaho nurse who told her family not to get vaccinated has died from COVID-19, CNN reported.
- The nurse's brother told CNN he thinks his sister absorbed misinformation about the vaccines from YouTube.
- A steep rise in COVID cases this month has caused hospitals across Idaho to ration care.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
An Idaho nurse who told her family not to get vaccinated even as her mother was in a coma caused by COVID-19 has died of the disease, her brother told CNN.
Natalie Rise had worked as a registered nurse and a home healthcare worker before staying home with her two special-needs twins, her brother, Daryl Rise, told CNN.
Daryl Rise told the news outlet that his sister didn't think there had been studies conducted on the vaccines. She told her family not to get vaccinated, he said, even as her mother was lying in a coma.
"I think it was from misinformation, I think it was falling into negative social media and bloggers, YouTubers," Rise told CNN.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was fully approved by the Food and Drug Administration on August 23, after millions of people had already received both doses of the two-dose shot. About 181 million Americans have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
About 40% of people in Idaho have been fully vaccinated, CNN reported. Earlier this month, Idaho hospitals activated crisis protocol and began rationing care due to an increase in COVID cases caused by the Delta variant.
"Crisis standards of care is a last resort. It means we have exhausted our resources to the point that our healthcare systems are unable to provide the treatment and care we expect,"Idaho Department of Health and Welfare Director Dave Jeppesen said in a September 7 statement. "This is a decision I was fervently hoping to avoid. The best tools we have to turn this around is for more people to get vaccinated and to wear masks indoors and in outdoor crowded public places."
Daryl Rise said he got vaccinated the day after his sister died. He said his mother, who is recovering, is still undecided about the vaccine.
"It was the hardest decision of my life, you know, am I doing right by God? Am I doing right by Natalie?" he told CNN. "And I got it out of fear."