Family says vaccine misinformation killed bride to be

A bride-to-be died from COVID-19 complications after hesitating to get vaccinated amid false fertility fears, according to her family. 

Samantha Wendell planned to marry her fiance, Austin Eskew, on Aug. 21, 2021, after 10 years of dating, according to The Washington Post.

Because she was eager to have children soon after her wedding, the 29-year-old surgical technician decided to wait to get the COVID-19 vaccine under the false belief that it could hurt her chances of pregnancy, her family members told NBC News. 

In July, Wendell changed her mind. But just days before her scheduled vaccine appointment, she and her fiance both tested positive for the virus. Wendell had recently returned from a bachelorette party in Nashville, NBC News reported.

After a lengthy stay in the hospital where Wendell was placed on a ventilator, she died on Sept. 10 after she lost the ability to breathe on her own and her family decided to take her off life support, NBC News said. 

“We were supposed to see her walk down the aisle two weeks ago,” her cousin Maria Vibandor Hayes said in a Facebook post. “She was unvaccinated. She was worried about her fertility. Misinformation killed her.”

Her funeral was held in the same church where she planned to get married, NBC News noted.

“It didn’t have to end this way,” Hayes added in the post.