Utah Woman Gets Vaccine Hours After Gov. Cox Expands Vaccine Rollout To 65+
Feb 19, 2021, 10:26 PM | Updated: 11:18 pm
SPANISH FORK, Utah – A Utah County woman was among the first in the state to get her vaccine in the expanded 65 and older rollout Gov. Spencer Cox announced Thursday, and she can’t wait to be “done with this pandemic.”
The nearly yearlong interruption to life has gone on long enough for Marj Eldard.
“This is one weary grandma. I am so tired of this pandemic,” Eldard said Friday. “I want it to be over so I can spend time with my family. That’s the most important thing to me.”
And it was that exhaustion that spurred Eldard into action one day earlier, when Cox unexpectedly announced those age 65 and older would not have to wait until March 1 to get the vaccine.
“I never thought I’d be grateful and happy to get a shot,” she said. “And I said I am so doing this. I am done. I am done with this pandemic.”
Eldard jumped online before Cox had even finished his sentence, she said, to book an appointment through the Utah County Health Department. To her delight, she saw six available time slots that afternoon starting at 3:30 p.m. And a couple of hours later, she and her husband were on their way to Spanish Fork.
“[Thursday] was my first step toward normalization in my life. I am so happy,” she said.
Eldard has not seen her grandchildren in months. She hasn’t met two nieces who were born during the pandemic. Several of her family members have had the virus, and one relative has died.
For her, getting the vaccine means, “We can go on our trips. We can see our family.”
The pandemic has been tough for many people across the state. And for some, setting up an appointment and receiving the vaccine has not been easy. But Eldard can only look ahead to her second dose and what she sees as the beginning of normal again.
“I see an end. A light at the end of the tunnel,” she said. “I’m going to drive to Midvale and hug my grandsons. And then I’m going to drive to see my granddaughter and my youngest grandson.”
