A Covid vaccine refuser who "stared death in the eyes" as he struggled to breathe in hospital after catching the bug has said he regrets turning down the jab.
Abderrahmane Fadil, 60, was left gasping for breath as he fought off the virus during a nine-day stay at Bradford Royal Infirmary.
He said snubbing his invite for a vaccine in February was "the biggest mistake" of his life.
The dad-of-two had been "a bit reluctant" to get the jab when it was first offered to him and did not believe he would get seriously ill from Covid.
But he described the heartbreaking moment he saw his children crying as he was taken in for emergency care as "one of the saddest scenes" of his life.
"I will never forget when the paramedics were taking me down the stairs and my kids were crying and looking at me," Mr Fadil told the BBC.
"I said: 'I'm all right, daddy will be all right'. "I was taken straight for oxygen treatment.
"I rang 999 because I couldn't catch my breath. I was contemplating death. That's the nearest I came to death. I was staring at it in the eyes."
Mr Fadil first fell ill two weeks ago and spent nine days in hospital - but expects to be recovering for many weeks to come.
He said battling such a severe case has changed his view about the dangers of the virus and the prospect of getting a jab.
"I was a bit reluctant (in February) and just thought I'll hold my horses and maybe get it later. I never really believed I would get Covid or it would make me so ill. I know differently now," he said.
Respiratory consultant Tanveer Khalid, part of the team caring for Mr Fadil, said he had been "very lucky" to survive.
"The majority of very sick Covid patients we have on our wards are here because they have refused the vaccine," he said.
The dad-of-two thanked NHS staff for their amazing work and said he owed his life to the doctors and nurses who cared for him. "You feel very privileged that you're still here," he added.
It comes after a study that showed half of all people in the UK who were anti-vaxxers in December have now changed their mind and had a jab.
52 per cent of those who said they would definitely turn down a dose have since changed their mind and been vaccinated, according to the research by King's College London and the University of Bristol.
Vaccine confidence appears to have doubled in ethnic minorities, from 36 per cent saying they were certain or very likely to get jabbed in November to 72 per cent now.
