vaccine trial
A volunteer receives an injection from a medical worker during the country's first human clinical trial for a potential vaccine against the novel coronavirus, at Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, South Africa, June 24, 2020.
Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters
  • A Florida family of an unvaccinated man will hold a vaccine and testing site at his funeral.
  • Marquis Davis wanted to get the vaccine after he was hospitalized but it was too late, his wife told WFTV.
  • The family, along with their church, will offer the community Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer vaccines.
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The Florida family of an unvaccinated man who died from COVID-19 will hold a vaccination event at his funeral in his honor to urge others to get the shot.

Marquis Davis, a 28-year-old father, and husband, was hospitalized after contracting COVID-19 in July, according to WFTV and ABC News. According to ABC News, Davis was on a ventilator for about six days before he died.

His wife, Charnese Davis, told WFTV that he wanted to get the vaccine when he got out of the hospital.

"He was in the hospital. He said, 'Bae, I'm going to get the vaccine when I get out of here,'" Davis told the outlet. "So, he was going to get it. I was like, 'Good. I'm so happy you said that, but it's too late."

The pastor of Faith Temple Christian Center, Dr. R. Shaun Ferguson, helped the family coordinate a COVID-19 vaccine and testing site during Davis' funeral and wake, according to reports. The event will offer the community Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer vaccines.

The highly infectious Delta variant, reportedly as contagious as chickenpox, has been rapidly spreading throughout the US. Health officials have warned that those most vulnerable are the unvaccinated, especially in states like Florida, where there is a surge in hospitalizations amid a new wave of the virus, as USA Today reported.

"Now we're seeing things completely shift with this delta variant. [Marquis] was 28 years old, had the rest of his life in front of him, and because of COVID-19, specifically this delta variant, and he was not vaccinated, his life was cut short," Ferguson told ABC News. "Our position as a church is let's get this cut. Let's do this. I don't want to see another person lose their life, period."

Read the original article on Insider