- 2 nurses in the US and a nurse in the UK talk about the experience of being among the first to get vaccinated.
- While many people are skeptical about the COVID vaccine, nurse Riza Raquion believes that it is the only way to end the pandemic and slowly put people’s lives back to normal.
- Richie Gil, a critical care nurse who is married to a nurse, said: ‘I have long been waiting for this moment to come after enduring 10 months of risking our lives being exposed to COVID-19 patients.
- Gil and his wife availed of the early vaccination to protect their three young children and aging in-laws.
- Leo Quijano, a nurse in the UK, who received the injection a day after it was rolled out by the UK government, said: ‘Being a victim of COVID-19 myself, I did not hesitate. I am positive about the vaccine which has shown 95 percent efficacy in the study and that is really good.”
In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic are brave Filipino healthcare workers, many of them working in critical hospital wards abroad. They are witnessing at first hand the viciousness of the coronavirus disease that has already claimed the lives of nearly 1.7 million people and infected more than 76.1 million others worldwide.
Just as the United Kingdom and the United States recently rolled out the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for emergency use to address their spiraling cases, several Filipino healthcare workers in both countries volunteered to get the first dose of the vaccine amid skepticism on its efficacy and possible side effects.
RIZA RAQUION, Registered Nurse, Chicago
“It’s my duty as a health care provider to be a good example to protect my patient, my family and my community,” said the 53-year-old Riza Raquion. She was administered with the vaccine on December 18 at the Amita Health Resurrection Medical Center in Chicago where she works as a registered nurse.
When Raquion heard the news from the hospital that they will begin to roll out the vaccine, “I immediately prepared myself mentally,” she told the Manila Bulletin in an online interview on Sunday.
“When you work at the hospital bedside as a nurse, you will see the struggle. You will see how they (COVID patients) cope to get better. It’s very hard and I’ve seen them. It breaks my heart to take care of these patients and I don't want them to die in front of me again. I’ve witnessed it and it’s so depressing. You’ll cry when you see them intubated, when you see them transferred to the ICU,” said Raquion, a mother of two boys.
Even her 20-year-old son was not spared from the scourge of the pandemic. Raquion said her son is now under home isolation after contracting the virus only last Friday, presumably after going out to help a friend to do an errand. She was thankful that he only manifested “mild symptoms” of fever and headache for two days, while his temperature and oxygen saturation are now back to the normal level.
She compared her COVID vaccination to flu shots “which I think hurts more.” After the injection, Raquion only noticed “soreness” in her left arm that easily went away the following day. “Now I’m feeling okay, no body ache, no other symptoms, no headache, no nausea, no vomiting.”
While many people are skeptical about the COVID vaccine, Raquion believes that it is the only way to end the pandemic and slowly put people’s lives back to normal.
“Don't be afraid to get the COVID-19 vaccine. This is the only way to protect your loved ones, the community, and yourself to fight the virus if you’re exposed,” Raquion said, even as she warned that even with the vaccine, people should not let their guard down by continuing to observe basic health protocols such as the wearing of mask and face shield in public, social distancing, and proper handwashing.
RICHIE GIL, Critical Care Nurse, Chicago
On the other side of Chicago is Richie Gil, a Critical Care Nurse at the University of Chicago Medicine, one of the biggest medical centers in the City of Chicago where the COVID-19 numbers are still high.
A native of Dueñas, Iloilo, Gil migrated to the Windy City in 1994 and married Jeannie Segovia, a first-generation Filipina who is also a nurse at Jesse Brown VA Medical Center in Chicago.
Since he is currently assigned at the Peri-operative services and Post Anesthesia Care Unit, considered as one of the COVID-19 battlefronts for medical frontliners, Gil was among those prioritized to receive the first wave of the vaccines allotted for the State of Illinois and City of Chicago.
“I have long been waiting for this moment to come after enduring 10 months of risking our lives being exposed to COVID-19 patients. The daily uncertainty made me and my wife, who is also a nurse, accept the fact that it is just a matter of time before we get infected,” Gil said in an online interview.
He admitted that several friends, co-workers, and family members were among the close to 300,000 American lives lost since the pandemic hit the United States early this year.
Gil said he and his wife were compelled to avail of an early vaccination to protect their three young children and his aging in-laws.
Gil received his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on December 17, 2020, ahead of his wife who is just waiting for her turn at the medical facility where she is working.
Even before the approval for emergency use was announced, Gil said most of the hospitals in the US had prepared and created a system leading to the vaccination, along with information about the selected vaccine to be administered.
Despite that, Gil said not all of his co-workers are eager to be included in the first wave.
“There was skepticism about the unknown side effects that this novel vaccine might cause where some are just waiting until others were vaccinated first… Even some Filipino nurses I know declined to take the first shot,” he added.
Gil maintained that he was not nervous at all the moment the needle of the vaccine injection pierced through his skin.
“I stopped momentarily to remember those who didn’t live to see the glory of that moment. I remembered all those who fell victim to this pandemic and the agony their family had to endure. I was full of hope the souls of our loved ones find solace and consolation that their death and their memory strengthened the resolve to produce this vaccine that will provide protection and eventually bring healing to humanity,” he said.
LEO QUIJANO, Nurse, England
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe in May this year, Leo Quijano, a Filipino nurse working in one of the major hospitals in Brighton, England, had tested positive for COVID-19. Quijano surmised she contracted the virus from one of the patients. Two days later, the same patient died due to COVID-19 infections.
It was also about that period when Quijano began experiencing COVID-like symptoms such as fatigue, dehydration, and off and on fever.
Quijano went into isolation for seven days and returned to work for three consecutive days. On the third day, Quijano decided to go home early after feeling too tired and exhausted and then again went into isolation for another two weeks until the situation got worst.
On June 1, Quijano’s COVID test yielded positive and she was hastily placed at the hospital’s Red Zone, the dreaded isolation area for COVID-19 patients.
While Quijano was lucky enough to have recovered from the bout with COVID-19, she was not able to work for two straight months.
When the UK government announced the rollout of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, Quijano was among the first Filipino health workers in the UK to avail of the vaccine.
“Being a victim of COVID-19 myself, I did not hesitate. I am positive about the vaccine which has shown 95 percent efficacy in the study and that is really good,” said Quijano who received the injection on December 8, a day after it was rolled out by the UK government.
Despite the staggering number of COVID-19 cases in the UK, Quijano admits that some of her colleagues are still hesitant to be vaccinated.
“Some are even joking that they want to see first what will happen to me in the next few months. All I can say is that we’ve been waiting for this and it’s already here,” she said.
Quijano observed that the vaccination in the UK seems to be gaining ground, citing the sudden increase in the number of healthcare workers and elderly folks accessing the online booking platform.
“I noticed that the schedule is already fully-booked in the next few weeks,” Quijano said.
In a recent webinar hosted by the Quezon City government, Quijano assured the participants that she is more than happy to share his experience with the Filipino people and help in the advocacy for the use of a safe and reliable vaccine in the Philippines.
“Huwag po kayo matakot (Don't be afraid). I hope it will be made available in the Philippines soon so that you will be protected and we can all normally function just like before the pandemic. But still, the key is prevention, we still need to observe the basic health protocols,” Quijano said.
The Pfizer-BioNTech product, like other vaccines, will help the body to create the antibodies that destroy SARS-CoV2, the respiratory virus that causes COVID-19. This type of vaccine is made from a special RNA vaccine where one has to have two injections separated by three weeks to one month apart, with 95 percent effectiveness.