Anti-vaxxer died from Covid after reading online posts that jabs were too 'experimental'
5 August 2021, 14:17
An anti-vaxxer died from Covid after refusing the jab because he had read posts on social media which made him believe the jabs were too "experimental."
Solicitor Leslie Lawrenson, 58, died at his home in Bournemouth, Dorset, on 2 July.
His partner Amanda Mitchell, 56, became seriously ill while Mr Lawrenson was infected and said that his belief that Covid-19 vaccines were too “experimental” put his family at risk.
He posted videos days before he died explaining how he thought his immune system would be enough to help him beat the virus. He refused the jab, believing he 'did not need it'
In videos he posted on Facebook he explained how he felt Covid-19 was not something people should be afraid of.
In the clips he explained he was having symptoms that felt "no worse than a cold."
READ MORE: Sister's heartbreak after brother died of covid as “he didn’t want vaccine in his body”
At around 11pm on June 24 he described having a "very high temperature, aches, pains and shivers".
In the clip he said: "There's no need to be afraid. There's no need to panic.
"I hope I've got it. I hope it is Covid. I'd rather the antibodies than the jabs."
On June 25 he posted on Facebook: "My COVID 19 test centre result is back and it is confirmed that I have tested positive with COVID 19.
"I will try to do another vlog tonight."
His partner Amanda spent seven days on a Covid ward being treated for the virus and pneumonia which she developed. She was discharged on July 9.
Ms Mitchell said: “Les made a terrible mistake and he’s paid the ultimate price for that.
"I feel incredibly foolish. Les died unnecessarily.
“It was a daily thing that he said to us: ‘You don’t need to have it, you’ll be fine, just be careful.’
“He said to me: ‘It’s a gene thing, an experimental thing. You’re putting something in your body that hasn’t been thoroughly tested’.
“Les was highly educated… so if he told me something, I tended to believe it.”
Writing on Facebook, she posted that if her partner had had the jab, “he would probably still be with us today”.
“I’m trying to stop any other family suffering a loss and the total devastation that we are going through".
Mr Lawrenson's step son has set up a fund to help support Amanda and her two other children.
Adam Halls posted online: "My step dad Leslie Lawrenson sadly passed away on Friday. As you will read in the fund my sister has set up my Mum is still in hospital after being admitted at the same time we heard the awful news.
"As you can imagine at the moment it is an emotional roller coaster that we are on."
