louisiana covid hospital
A COVID-19 patient in the ICU at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital in Lake Charles, Louisiana on August 10, 2021.
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  • Phil Valentine, conservative radio host and vaccine skeptic, has died after weeks of battling COVID-19.
  • Valentine previously said his personal chance of dying from the virus was "way less than one percent."
  • His family said he came to regret his views and told people to "PLEASE GO GET VACCINATED!"
  • See more stories on Insider's business page.

A well-known conservative radio host and vaccine skeptic has died of COVID-19 after weeks of battling the virus in hospital.

Phil Valentine, 61, who hosted "The Phil Valentine Show" on WWTN-FM in Nashville, Tennessee, was a vocal critic of vaccines before having a change of heart after becoming seriously ill himself, according to his family.

Valentine's Nashville radio station SuperTalk 99.7 WTN reported his death in a tweet on Saturday afternoon.

Valentine announced that he had contracted the virus in a Facebook post in July.

He later told his listeners that his symptoms included coughing, congestion and fatigue which he said "hurts like crap."

A week after contracting the virus, Valentine's family said in a statement that he had been hospitalized with "covid pneumonia" and was in the critical care unit breathing with the assistance of an oxygen tank.

In a blog post on December 17, Valentine had said he believed the only people that needed to get COVID-19 vaccines were those with "underlying health issues."

"I'm not an anti-vaxxer. I'm just using common sense. What are my odds of getting COVID? They're pretty low. What are my odds of dying from COVID if I do get it? Probably way less than one percent," he wrote.

On his radio show Valentine would often sing a song called "Vaxman", a parody of The Beatles's song "Taxman."

He would sing, "'Cause I'm the Vaxman, yeah I'm the Vaxman. If you don't like me coming round, be thankful I don't hold you down."

The radio host's brother Mark Valentine wrote on Facebook that his brother had come to regret his stance on vaccines while in hospital.

"Phil would like for his listeners to know that while he has never been an "anti-vaxer" he regrets not being more vehemently 'Pro-Vaccine'," Mark Valentine wrote.

He ended the statement by urging people to "PLEASE GO GET VACCINATED!"

Read the original article on Business Insider