The now familiar pattern repeats itself. A high profile, outspoken anti-vaccer contracts COVID-19 and winds up in the Hospital.
PLANO, Texas (AP) — Tea party firebrand Allen West, a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor of Texas, was hospitalized with COVID-19 on Sunday but said he’s “doing great.”
West and his wife, Angela West, were diagnosed with the virus after attending a “packed house” fundraising event in Seabrook, Texas, last week. He said Saturday that he is “suspending in-person events until receiving an all-clear indication.”
- Ex-congressman ‘taking hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin’
- Wife Angela West also positive but has been vaccinated
Allen West, a Tea Party firebrand now a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor of Texas, said on Saturday he had received monoclonal antibody injections after being diagnosed with Covid-19 pneumonia.
West “has publicly stated he supports individual choice and this is reflected in his own family”, a tweet said.
West also said he was “already taking hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin”. The former drug is an anti-malarial, the latter an anti-parasitic used in humans and animals. Both are popular among anti-vaccination campaigners but have no proven use against Covid-19. Experts warn against possible side effects from their use.
“My chest X-rays do show Covid pneumonia,” West wrote, “not serious. I am probably going to be admitted to the hospital. There’s a concern about my oxygen saturation levels, which are at 89 and they should be at 95.”
On Thursday, West said he attended a “packed house” Mission Generation Annual Gala & Fundraiser in Seabrook, Texas. On Saturday he tweeted that he was “suspending in-person events until receiving an all-clear indication”.
West won a US House seat in Florida in 2010 and became a Tea Party favorite and political lightning rod, at one point accusing Democrats of having as many as 80 communists in their House caucus. He failed to win re-election in 2012.
West is a disgraced former Army officer, who ordered the mock executions of prisoners in an attempt to extract intelligence on hostile forces in Iraq.
If you haven’t yet done it, please get vaccinated. For yourself, and everyone around you. It’s free, it’s safe, it’s easy.