When Ian Pech found himself being transported by ambulance to Geelong hospital last week with COVID-19, he was beyond thankful he had been double vaccinated.
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As he was monitored by the weary but tenacious medical team who had been working on the region's COVID-19 ward for almost two years, he was astounded to find he was the only positive patient who had been fully vaccinated.
"I do feel very strongly that if I'd not been vaccinated that I certainly would have been sicker," Mr Pech, from Warrnambool, said.
"I spent a night in the COVID ward in Geelong and out of the 35 people there I think I was the only double-vaccinated person, and I was there for observation just to check that my chest pains weren't anything serious and they weren't; they were just a symptom of coughing a lot."
A few days later, Mr Pech tested positive.
"When you get a COVID-positive test, one of the hard things is thinking about who else you might have passed it on to and wondering about the possible impact on their lives. It's often close family and friends who are most likely to be affected," he said.
"The two households of our children had to quarantine for a week and thankfully they all tested negative. Friends who we had contact with also tested negative.
"While you're sick the isolation is difficult mentally and physically. Julie had seven days virtually locked in the bedroom before I tested positive."
After getting a second dose of AstraZeneca in August the couple are looking forward to getting their booster.
"My motivation for it was not as much for my own protection but to be mindful of those around me in the community who are vulnerable that maybe I would pass it on to if I was infected," said Mr Pech, who also suffers from asthma.
"As it turns out, it was a very good protection for me as well because I believe that I would have been much sicker as I'm a little bit prone to picking up colds and things."
Since being cleared by the Health Department this week, the former managing editor of The Standard has shared his experience with COVID-19 in the hopes to educate others and break the stigma around the virus that has swept the globe over the last two years.
"I didn't really know anybody - none of my close circle of friends or acquaintances - who had it until my wife got it, and then I got it," he said.
"It was surreal and actually a bit of a shock, but now I know at least half a dozen people with it.
"There is an aspect of the unknown that you face when you get this disease.
"It's good to know that if you are up to date with the vaccinations you're unlikely to get really ill and unlikely to go to hospital the way I did and if you do, you're probably not going to be there for very long - I was just there overnight."
Over the last two weeks the remote patient monitoring team at South West Healthcare was in touch twice a day to monitor the couple's symptoms while in isolation.