He also became the first person in the entire city of Houston to receive it. In a room full of cameras, a visibly emotional Robert Luckey got his dose on Tuesday morning.
Luckey’s vaccination was met with much fanfare, the room exploded with applause.
“How do you feel?” a reporter asked.
“I feel happy,” Luckey said. “I feel very lucky to have been the first person to actually receive the vaccine, given the number of people affected by [COVID-19] self. I’m just proud, ”he said.
Luckey was once a United States Marine until he chose to pursue a career in healthcare. After his stint in the military, he went back to school and became a registered nurse. He has been in Memorial Hermann Hospital for nearly four years and has worked in the COVID-19 ward since the start of the pandemic, caring for about 38 patients who are currently fighting the virus.
“I think during this time it is not only the patients that we have to comfort that are under our care, but it is the family members because they are unable to visit their relatives,” he said. “You actually take care of the whole family in a way.”
Luckey said that while there is speculation about the development of the vaccine, he voluntarily chose to take the vaccine on his own.
He called it both a rewarding and a difficult time.
“I think for a lot of people, myself included, this really looks like the light at the end of the tunnel. It’s just an opportunity to move forward because that’s what you take care of the patients for, you’re comforting the patients, but at this point, I think with the vaccine, this is actually the first light we see, ”Luckey.
According to state health leaders, healthcare providers or workers in medical facilities, along with nursing home residents and staff, will be the first to receive the vaccine. Officials say the focus is on facilities that indicated they will vaccinate at least 975 primary care health workers, as that is the minimum order for the Pfizer vaccine.
Additional shipments are expected to take place later in the week. In total, Texas was assigned 224,250 doses of vaccine to be shipped to 110 suppliers across the state by week 1 of distribution.
The Food and Drug Administration approved emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Friday, December 11. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention then accepted a recommendation from an advisory committee to provide doses to people 16 and older.
Receiving the COVID-19 vaccine is voluntary. However, experts say that 60 to 80 percent of the population needs to be vaccinated to potentially end the pandemic.
Throughout the week, ABC13 spends half an hour bringing the latest daily developments on how vaccines are distributed in the area. ACTION 13: COUNTDOWN TO A VACCINE is every day this week at 6:30 pm here on ABC13. You can stream it for free on demand and without a subscription on your favorite streaming devices including Roku and Fire TV. Just search for the free ABC13 Houston app.
Watch live news broadcasts and in-depth reporting from ABC13 on your favorite streaming devices such as Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and AndroidTV. Just search for “ABC13 Houston.”
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