Getting the COVID-19 Vaccine — First-Person Accounts

By: Janelle Ringer, Loma Linda University Health News

After nine months of working on the front lines, health-care workers are receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. The recently approved vaccines offer hope for an end to the immense strain the virus has put on the health-care system.

Over the past few days, frontline health-care workers have been sharing their reasons for getting the vaccine.

“Vaccines mean hope! Vaccines mean life! This is for me, my family, my friends, and my community,” Jennifer Quach, who works at LLUH maternity services, said. Quach’s son suffers from congenital high airway obstruction syndrome (CHAOS), a rare condition that blocks the airway and vocal cords. She credits him as one of her largest motivations for receiving the vaccine.

“I got the vaccine because I love my neighbor as myself,” LeAnn Nash, a nurse on the pediatric post-anesthesia care unit, said.

“I got the vaccine because I want to protect my family and myself,” Matthew Sutton, a pharmacy intern, explained.

Tiera Evans, an obstetrics/gynecology physician, said, “I got my vaccine for my parents and my children.” Evans was joined by her husband, Joshua Gabel, a surgery physician, who shared his reason for vaccinating, saying, “I got vaccinated to protect my patients, children, and community.”

“I got vaccinated for my wife, kids, parents, and patients,” Ryan Hayton, an acute care surgery physician, said.

As health-care workers continue to celebrate this historic moment in the pandemic, the central themes seem to be joy and optimism in an incredibly difficult situation.

The original version of this story was posted on the Loma Linda University Health News site.