Hai Shaulian
Hai ShaulianYehonatan Gottlieb

The family of Hai Shaulian, a prominent activist opposing the coronavirus vaccine, has expressed regret that they did not succeed in convincing him to take the coronavirus vaccine, Maariv reported.

"On the issue of vaccines he made a mistake, and he paid for it with his life," Hai's brother Avi Shaulian said.

Hai died of coronavirus on Monday.

"I tried to convince him, but the result of the battle was predetermined. There was no chance of changing his mind. He refused to be intubated, and it could be that would have saved his life. He reached that decision with his supporters on their group - he was a social activist - and they were a large group which included doctors, of the type who told him to go home and receive the treatment at home. It really wasn't logical, because we even tried to get him transferred to another hospital to receive an experimental medication - and even there they told us not to do it, because it was dangerous."

"Now I'm telling every person, in general - if there is someone weighing whether to get vaccinated at all - I think there are they should rethink - they could save their own lives and those of their loved ones. Now he is dead and we, the family, are really broken and crumbling, and we'll continue suffering a long time, especially since this death could have been prevented. There's no doubt that if he had been vaccinated, he would have had the virus more lightly. We all need to know that this is a horrible disease, and before you die you go through the seven levels of hell."

Avi explained that his brother "was not an anti-vaxxer like those who opposed vaccines systematically. He was opposed to the coronavirus vaccine because he thought it wasn't 100% safe and might cause long-term damage. That was his belief. He was also of the opinion that the Green Pass essentially forces people to get vaccinated, and he opposed that - he was in favor of freedom, that every person should have the right to do what he wants with his body."

"He did many things in his life, he was very learned, not stupid at all, served in an elite unit in the IDF, used to work in hi-tech, he did many things in his life. On the issue of vaccines he made a mistake, and he paid with his life."

When asked if they know where Hai contracted coronavirus, Avi rejected the claim that Hai was poisoned: "That's also strange. He participated in many protests and wasn't infected, they arrested him afterwards at a protest in Jerusalem - and he left there, according to him, sick. He claimed they poisoned him. It's hard for me to believe that our country would allow such things to happen. I have no doubt that he was infected either while under arrest or at a protest."