PHIL VALENTINE, RADIO HOST WHO CRITICISED VACCINE EFFORTS DIES OF COVID-19

Sun 22 August 2021:

A vaccination skeptic and conservative US talk radio presenter died in hospital from complications related to a Covid-19 infection he developed last month.

Nashville radio station SuperTalk 99.7 WTN tweeted on Saturday that radio star Phil Valentine had died.

“We are saddened to report that our host and friend Phil Valentine has passed away,” the station said in a tweet. “Please keep the Valentine family in your thoughts and prayers.”

According to WKRN, an ABC-affiliated Tennessee news outlet: “Several of Valentine’s co-workers and close friends announced they had spoken with Valentine’s brother Mark, who confirmed the 61 year old had passed away earlier in the afternoon.”

Valentine had been a skeptic of coronavirus vaccines. But after he tested positive for Covid-19, and prior to his hospitalization, he told his listeners to consider, “If I get this Covid thing, do I have a chance of dying from it?” If so, he advised them to get vaccinated. He said he chose not to get vaccinated because he thought he probably wouldn’t die.

After Valentine was moved into a critical care unit, Mark Valentine said his brother regretted that “he wasn’t a more vocal advocate of the vaccination.”

He announced his diagnosis on Facebook in July. Speaking about his experience of Covid-19, he described coughing, congestion and fatigue which he said “hurts like crap”. He advised listeners to get vaccinated, but also said there were some “very effective alternatives” to immunisation.

Phil Valentine had been a radio personality since he was 20 and became a popular conservative host by railing against a state income tax proposed by Republican then-Gov. Don Sundquist, the Tennessean reported.

Covid-19 cases are on the rise in the United States, due to the highly contagious Delta variant. Non-vaccinated people account for the vast majority of hospitalizations and deaths.

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