SIDNEY – Nancy Thompson, a resident of Landings of Sidney, eagerly awaited her turn to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, which she got Wednesday morning at the senior living facility.
Thompson, who previously worked as a registered nurse, said she wanted to get the vaccine to protect herself and her loved ones.
“I wanted to get the vaccine because I think it’s ridiculous to have something available that you don’t take advantage of,” Thompson said shortly after receiving her first dose of the two-dose Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. “And it wasn’t going to cost me anything. Just keep yourself safer.
“You could spread (COVID-19) to other people if you get (the virus). And I have family; I don’t want to infect them with anything.”
Landings of Sidney worked with Walgreens in Sidney to administer the vaccine to residents and staff Wednesday morning. Pam Grimslid, a Walgreens pharmacist, said 75 doses were being administered on Wednesday.
A second vaccine clinic will be held at the Landings in a few weeks to provide the second dose for people who received a shot Wednesday and a first dose for others. A few weeks after that a third clinic will be held to complete second doses.
“We’re very excited about it,” said Jane Taylor, the executive director of Landings of Sidney. “The residents have been waiting for it for a while so we’re just glad we can offer it.”
Taylor was unsure of how many staff and residents declined to receive the vaccine on Wednesday but said she was among those who received it.
“We’ve had a high participation,” Taylor said. “It’s been a very busy morning.
“I’m glad I got the vaccine today.”
Both Taylor and Thompson said they didn’t feel the prick of the needle when they received their shots.
“She did a tremendous job,” Taylor said. “Didn’t even know I got a stick.”
Thompson, who turns 86 years old on Thursday, said the COVID-19 pandemic reminds her of the polio virus.
“My mother was afraid to even take us anywhere,” Thompson said of the polio outbreak when she was younger. “You didn’t go to the swimming pool back then because you were so afraid of getting polio. It’s the same thing all over again, just a different group of people, I think. But it’s scary because you do not know what is going to happen.”
Taylor isn’t sure when restrictions will start to ease at the Landings and other senior living facilities, but Wednesday’s vaccine clinic provided some hope that things soon will start to get better.
“That’s up to the Ohio Department of Health, but I think everyone’s hopeful that this provides some light at the end of the tunnel,” she said.
