Mum who nearly died of COVID vaccine side effects vows to let daughter have jab

A mother left fighting for her life after an allergic reaction to the Pfizer COVID vaccine has vowed to let her daughter get the jab.

Kirsty Hext, 26, was rushed to hospital when she began struggling to breathe minutes after having the second dose of the vaccine on 28 April.

It turned out she had suffered a severe unknown allergy to one of its ingredients and has since had at least 14 anaphylactic shocks.

Despite her life-threatening reaction to the jab, Hext has said she's in support of her daughter Harper-Rose, two, getting the vaccine when she is eligible.

The vaccine has been approved for more than three million children aged between 12 and 15 who will be able to get their first shot next week.

Senior care assistant Kirsty from Havant, Hampshire, said: “I believe the vaccine is helping people, even after what I went through, so that's why I'm letting Harper-Rose have the vaccine.

“Being a parent, you just want to protect your child.”

She added: "Even after everything I've been through, I still think everyone should get their jab. Just because I had a bad reaction, doesn't mean everyone else will too - vaccinations save lives.

"This has been a truly terrifying experience – one I never even thought was possible – but it's still so important people get their jabs.

"Even though I have nearly died several times since getting vaccinated, I work in the care sector myself and I know how important it is.

"I want people to remember that reactions like mine are very rare - and just because I have had a bad reaction, doesn't mean everyone else will too."

Hext’s lips and tongue swelled to the point of bleeding and she ended up having two seizures when shocks left her brain starved of oxygen.

She feared she’d never see Harper-Rose again after she was admitted to ICU.

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Hext said: “I truly believed my body was giving up - I thought I was going to die in hospital and I'd never watch my daughter grow up.

“I even had tearful a phone call with my sister where I asked her 'if I don't wake up, can you raise my daughter?”

Hext had never had an allergic reaction before in her life.

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