A nurse who ignored pleas from her ‘conspiracist theorist’ family to refuse the Covid vaccine has come to regret it after being admitted to hospital following the jab.
Nurse Haylee Horton, 45, was diagnosed with a ‘post-vaccination immune reaction’ after a five-day stay at Peel Health Campus Hospital in Perth.
Ms Haylee resumed nursing after her maternity leave in late 2021, but required a Covid vaccination to do so, as part of Western Australia’s mandates at the time.
However, four family members were outspoken in their opposition to the jab.
“They begged me not to get it, especially my aunt,” Ms Horton told Daily Mail Australia.
“At the time they all sounded really crazy, to be honest. We almost had a family outcome. I thought they were all crazy, I really did.’
Perth nurse Haylee Horton, 45, says she quickly regretted her decision to get the Covid jab after an immunological reaction to the vaccine left her fighting for life in hospital
On October 11, 2021, Ms Horton asked her GP for his advice on the Covid vaccine.
He told her she was at greater risk of contracting Covid because of her underlying multiple sclerosis, which has been controlled by six-monthly infusions of an autoimmune drug since being diagnosed in 2014.
“I’ve never had a problem with any other vaccine,” Mr Horton said.
‘As a nurse you have to have all these kinds of injections.’
Following the advice of her doctor, Ms Horton received a Pfizer vaccine at a local medical practice in south-west Perth.
Ms Horton spent five days in hospital shortly after receiving her second Pfizer vaccine and was diagnosed with a post-vaccination immune reaction
Over the next two days, Ms. Horton said she felt ‘pretty rubbish’ and was tired.
However, she attributed it to having a young daughter who was a magnet for bringing viruses into the household.
Ms Horton received her second Pfizer jab on November 12.
The following weekend, Mrs. Horton was hosting a joint birthday party for herself and her daughter when she burned her tongue on some asparagus.
‘[The burn] turned into a huge sore on my tongue,” she said.
She woke up the next morning with a severe headache, sore throat and nausea, which forced her to stay in bed.
The next day she started vomiting, shaking with fever and had a “throbbing headache.”
On November 17, a family friend took Ms Horton to A&E at Peel Health Campus in Perth while her husband cared for their one-year-old baby.
Eventually, a doctor told Ms. Horton that she was neutropenic, meaning she had a severe shortage of white blood cells that fight infection.
“It dawned on me how ill I was and how dangerous it could have been for me to be left on an open ward with such a compromised immune system,” Ms Horton said.
The Perth nurse has ‘never had a problem with any other vaccine’ before getting a Covid jab
After receiving antibiotics overnight, Ms. Horton’s white blood cell count improved significantly and approached normal levels, but her neutrophil levels remained low.
A doctor wanted to send Mrs. Horton home, but she told him she still felt “terrible.”
“Then I told him I had a stomach ache and when he touched it I almost went through the roof,” she said.
‘He had an ultrasound done and it showed acute cholecystitis (inflammation of the gallbladder).’
This led to another four nights in hospital, where Mrs Horton was given antibiotics and pain relief.
She was eventually discharged and her discharge summary stated that she had suffered a ‘post-vaccination immune reaction’.
Ms Horton’s health took a rapid turn for the worse after she received her second Pfizer Covid vaccine, forcing her to spend five days in hospital (stock image)
Despite receiving a letter from a neurology professor saying she had a life-threatening vaccine reaction, Mrs Horton was told she still needed a third jab to resume feeding
Ms. Horton was told she would still need a third Covid vaccine to return to work as a nurse due to the state’s strict vaccine mandates at the time.
She requested an exemption from that requirement, providing a letter from a neurology professor stating that she had “a documented adverse reaction to both her first and second Pfizer coronavirus (vaccines) … leading to a six-day hospital stay with a possible life sentence.” . -threatening neutropina’.
“It is medically recognized that neutropenia can be a complication of the Pfizer vaccination… there is a significant risk of neutropenia if another coronavirus (vaccine) is given,” the letter said.
However, she was not granted an exemption and was forced to quit her job.
Mrs. Horton While conditions such as myocarditis and pericarditis are well documented as adverse effects of the Covid vaccine, other rarer reactions like hers are ‘likely to go unrecognized’.
“There needs to be a full investigation into the vaccines and recognition of all the people who have suffered over the last three years,” Ms Horton said.
‘Thankfully mine has been resolved, but many are suffering devastating consequences.’
Peel Campus Hospital has been contacted for comment but has not confirmed whether they have reported Ms Horton as an adverse reaction to the vaccine reaction to the medical watchdog Therapeutic Goods Administration.