I Was the First Person in America to Get a COVID-19 Vaccine. It Taught Me a Powerful Lesson

I was always ready to say yes to the COVID-19 vaccine. I’d been following its development from the very beginning of the pandemic and said, again and again, that I’d happily get vaccinated. Working in critical care during the first deadly wave of the virus, my team and I had yearned for any relief from the frustration and sorrow we felt. We lived in the constant presence of death and loss, treating patients without treatment options while living in fear of contracting the virus ourselves. We needed the hope a COVID vaccine might deliver. When my employer, Northwell Health, asked for volunteers to get the shot on day one, I stepped forward to say, “Yes.” [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] It ended up being a milestone in the history of the pandemic. In the first year they were available, vaccines saved at least 19 million lives around the world. Mine may have been among the first. Later, some people would say I’d been used, coerced, even paid. But getting the first COVID-19 vaccine outside of a clinical trial was not a mistake. The only mistake was thinking that, after the injection, I’d be going immediately back to work. The day had other plans. There was a press conference, and a whirlwind of interviews, then speaking engagements. When I said, “Yes,” to the vaccine, I unknowingly opened my eyes to a world of possibilities and advocacy. Risk, for example, looks different to me now. More than 6.3 million people worldwid...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Health Care Source Type: news