Vaccination Site Asks Residents Why Vaccine Is Important To Them
Mar 23, 2021, 6:43 PM | Updated: 8:14 pm
SPANISH FORK, Utah – Anyone who gets a COVID-19 vaccine has been asked to answer a few standard questions, but if you received a shot in Spanish Fork Tuesday you may have noticed unique posters at the site that asked a unique question — “Why?”
“People want this vaccine and we’re happy about that,” said Danica Topham, communications specialist for the Utah County Health Department. “For the people who are here to get the vaccine, we want to know why and we want to be able to share that with others.”
On the board at the back of the vaccine site in Spanish Fork, there were dozens of posted notes. Many refer to getting back to normal. Others are about getting back together with those they love.
“I got it for my kids,” said Heidi Hilton. “And I want to be a good citizen. I want to do it for other people.”
Hilton got the shots earlier this month. She came back Tuesday for her 17-year-old daughter Chetna, who has cerebral palsy and is partially blind and deaf. For the past year, Chetna has participated in school from home. In fact, the family hasn’t spent much time away from home.
“Not easy for her at all, you know. I mean, who has it been easy for?” Hilton said. “That doesn’t stop her. She’s just such a bright light.”
Not long after arriving at the old Shopko-turned-vaccine site, Hilton and Chetna were in position for her second dose.
“We are just so excited that she will be able to go and do some normal activities outside again,” Hilton said.
After waiting for 15 minutes, the mother and daughter went to the back and filled out a note to add to the board. Hilton wrote the names of her children. And for Chetna, she wrote, “because my mom and dad asked me to.”
“My ‘why’ was my grandparents,” Topham said.
Another woman filling out a card that said, “for me, it’s about hope.”
“More interactions with family because you don’t get to do that as much,” Baker Henry said. He’s been eligible for the vaccine for months because he works at a treatment center.
“I kind of kept putting it off. Kept forgetting. And figured it was about time I started getting it,” he said.
Henry was able to set the appointment the same day.
“Excited to get back to normal life,” he said.