A Florida teen that spent 11 days on a ventilator due to COVID-19 is urging others her age to get the jab to avoid the same fate.
Paulina Velasquez, 15, is a high school sophomore from Coral Springs, Florida.
She had intended to get vaccinated - she is eligible for the Pfizer-BioNTech shots - but never got to it, Velasquez told CNN.
Velasquez ended up testing positive for COVID-19 on July 11 after she lost her taste and smell and also felt other flu-like symptoms.
Within a week she was hospitalized at Broward Health Medical Center, and her condition eventually deteriorated to the point where she needed a ventilator.
Paulina Velasquez (pictured), 15, is urging other teens to get vaccinated after her bout with COVID-19
Velasquez (pictured) was hospitalized and on a ventilator for 11 days after contracting pneumonia due to Covid
'That was the scariest moment when they told me because I didn't know what to expect,' Agnes Velasquez, Paulina's mother, said.
Her daughter had a serious case of pneumonia that required the critical treatment. Paulina was able to recover.
'Things could have gone bad quickly, but she recovered because she's one young, healthy child. That, I think that was in favor of her recovering,' Dr Venu Devabhaktuni told CNN.
The teen still feels weak after her bout with the virus, but is going through physical therapy to regain her strength.
There has been a recent surge of children being hospitalized with
