BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – A funeral for a Florida man who died from COVID-19 was turned into a vaccination and testing event to honor his last wish to get the vaccine.
Marquis Davis, 28, a father and business owner died July 26. He was also unvaccinated.
“He was in the hospital. He said, ‘Bae, I’m going to get the vaccine when I get out of here,’” his wife Charnese Davis told WFTV. “So, he was going to get it. I was like ‘Good, I’m so happy you said that, but it’s too late. Don’t wait too late. Get it now, get it while you can.”
Davis decided to turn her husband’s wake and funeral at Faith Temple Christian Center into a vaccination event after a discussion with church leaders. The Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines were available to the community Friday and Saturday. Testing was also.
Dr. R. Shaun Ferguson, the church’s pastor, said Marquis Davis’s death was devastating.
“Now we’re seeing things completely shift with this delta variant. (Davis) was 28 years old, had the rest of his life in front of him, and because of COVID-19, specifically this delta variant, and he was not vaccinated, his life was cut short,” Ferguson told ABC News. “Our position as a church is let’s get this cut. Let’s do this. I don’t want to see another person lose their life, period.”
Charnese Davis hopes the vaccination event during the funeral helps others who might be skeptical about inoculation.
“He was so adamant about not getting it, everything we hear about the vaccine wasn’t always perfect…It’s a lot of younger adults my age who don’t want to get it or they think it won’t affect them,” she told ABC News. “But, it does affect you. This could have been prevented, so let’s get vaccinated so it doesn’t happen to you. At least have a fighting chance. Protect yourself. Protect your family. This is nothing to be to be playing around with.”
