Edgar Ramirez shares harrowing open letter mourning death of 5 loved ones due to COVID

Washington [US], August 26 (ANI): Actor Edgar Ramirez recently posted an emotional message encouraging others to get vaccinated against COVID-19 after the disease claimed the lives of five of the 'Jungle Cruise' star's loved ones.
On Wednesday, the 44-year-old Venezuelan-born actor posted a lengthy message on Instagram imploring his followers to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
He shared that five of his Venezuelan-based loved ones, none having had access to the vaccine, have died in the past handful of months, including his aunt and uncle, who both died over the weekend.
In the caption, Edgar wrote, "I beg you to please read this post carefully. It is the most painful and the most intimate thing I have had to publish in my life, but I think it is important to share it. At times I feel like it is a nightmare from which I am going to wake up, but I know it is not. That this is as real as the air that at this moment it is difficult for me to breathe."
The star, who earned an Emmy nomination for the title role on FX's 'The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story', added that his aunt's brother-in-law died on Monday after battling COVID-19, which was just over a month after his grandmother died from it, and four months after the disease took the life of Edgar's agent.
The actor also shared a video of himself participating in a recent sit-down about the ongoing pandemic with Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is President Joe Biden's chief medical advisor.
In his Instagram post, Edgar shared, "My heart can't just take more pain. I am sad, I am frustrated, I am devastated. It's been weeks and weeks of my family being played, tortured and jerked around by this cruel, treacherous and violent disease which mercilessly ended up killing them all. I can't stand this void in my chest, this metallic taste in my mouth, this crippling headache that doesn't seem to soothe."
He continued, "None had access to a vaccine in Venezuela. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of vaccines are being thrown away in the United States because a large number of people don't want them. It breaks my heart that so many people in this country are willing to snub the very vaccine my family would have taken in an instant."
Edgar isn't the first public figure in recent weeks to encourage others to get vaccinated amid the delta variant-fueled surge of COVID-19. As per E! News, in her interview for a magazine's September cover story, Jennifer Aniston has said she is no longer close to a few of her friends who have chosen not to get the jab. (ANI)