A totally vaccinated 36-year-old Southwest Airlines flight attendant from New York died after contracting COVID-19.
Maurice “Reggie” Shepperson, who relies in Las Vegas, examined optimistic for the bug in early July, and succumbed to the illness on Tuesday after being handled in a hospital for a month, a coworker and pal informed USA Today.
He was on a ventilator earlier than he died, in accordance with his mom.
It wasn’t instantly clear when he was inoculated in opposition to COVID-19. Vaccines take three weeks after the second shot to achieve their full effectiveness.
It additionally wasn’t clear whether or not the flight attendant had any pre-existing situations.
A spokesman for Southwest Airlines confirmed to USA Today {that a} Las Vegas-based crew member died Tuesday.
Severe infections of COVID-19 amongst those that are vaccinated are extraordinarily uncommon, even because the extremely contagious Delta variant has unfold throughout the United States.
The newest figures posted on the CDC’s web site confirmed that simply 8,054 — or 0.005 % — of the 166 million Americans who’ve been absolutely vaccinated in opposition to COVID-19 had suffered critical breakthrough infections inflicting hospitalization or loss of life as of August 9.
Reggie Shepperson handed away on August tenth from COVID-19.GoFundMe
The overwhelming majority of those that did change into severely sick (74 %) have been aged 65 years or older, the info exhibits.
Shepperson’s mom, Dawn Shepperson, mentioned her son’s loss of life was “mind-blowing.”
“It hurt me so bad because it was just so quick,” she informed USA Today.
“I didn’t have time to really even acknowledge what is going on. This is mind-blowing,” the grieving mother added. “It’s not real. It’s not real. It’s not real.”
Dawn Shepperson, who raised her son alone after his father died when he was a child, mentioned she was “proud” to be Reggie’s mom.
“People that I don’t even know, once they find out I’m Reggie’s mother said, ‘Ma’am, you did a beautiful job. This is a fine young man,’” she mentioned, in accordance with the outlet. “As a mother, I feel so blessed and proud because that’s all I wanted in life was to raise my son right.”
Reggie Shepperson was a beloved worker of Southwest, in accordance with his colleagues. Steve Pfost/Newsday RM through Getty Images
Marcia Hildreth, a fellow Southwest flight attendant, additionally informed USA Today that Shepperson was given the nickname “Skittles” in 2014 as a result of of his colourful apparel throughout flight attendant coaching.
Travis Pittman, a fellow Las Vegas-based flight attendant for Southwest, described his coworker as “so sweet,” and “like a teddy bear.”
“That New York exterior can come off hard and all that,” he informed the outlet. “But he was just like a teddy bear, so sweet on the inside and very, very loving. Just very fun to be around.”
“We are heartbroken over the loss of our Southwest employee,” Southwest spokesman Brandy King informed the publication in a press release.
“Out of respect for the family, we do not have additional information to share.”
