BROCKTON, Mass. — “Give it a try.”
Those words of encouragement came from veterans at the Boston VA’s Brockton campus.
Patients and staff in the Spinal Cord Unit received some of the first shots of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine.
Vincent Ng is the medica center director for the Boston VA. He told Boston 25, “We chose them because they are high risk and for their service to our country.”
Moderna, the Cambridge company that made this second vaccine shipped it across the country and Massachusetts. While 2,200 doses went to the Boston VA, another 1,200 were sent to the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center. Manny Lopes, president and CEO of EBNHC, said the community was hard hit by the virus.
“This is a great moment. We’ve been waiting a long time for this. Our staff has been through a lot,” Lopes said.
Doctors here are amazed at how quickly vaccines were developed, distributed and ready to go. Dr. Jackie Fantes is the chief medical officer at EBNHC.
“Coronavirus became one of our vocabulary words a year ago and now we have a vaccine. This is nothing short of a miracle,” Fantes said.
Back in Brockton, staff told Boston 25 News that most of their patients will take the vaccine. Healthcare worker Tom Cunningham believes that for veterans, that desire comes from their spirit of service.
“I would say 85 percent of my patient population is willing to do this,” Cunningham said.
And the veterans hope that their willingness to take the vaccination helps others see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Veteran and patient Guy Maroon said: “They say you can’t have change unless there’s change. So I am hoping the few of us that are here can start that change rolling and get things back on a normal keel.”
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