Edgar Ramirez is sharing an anguished message after five individuals close to him passed away this year following complications from COVID-19.

On Wednesday, Aug. 25,

Edgar Ramirez is sharing an anguished message after five individuals close to him passed away this year following complications from COVID-19.

On Wednesday, Aug. 25, the 44-year-old Venezuelan-born Jungle Cruise actor posted a lengthy message to 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. 

"I beg you to please read this post carefully," Edgar wrote. "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."