101-Year-Old Senior Citizen Receives COVID-19 Vaccine

“I didn’t even feel it,” were the words 101-year-old Fannie Knight, after receiving her first dose of the coronavirus (COVID-19) AstraZeneca vaccine, at the National Arena, on Saturday (March 27).

Ms. Knight was the oldest person to receive the vaccine, at the Government’s first coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination blitz.

“I didn’t know she gave me any. I was looking for her [nurse] to do something more, but she didn’t do anything, so I was wondering if she gave it to me,” Ms. Knight said.

When asked how she felt minutes after receiving the vaccine, she told JIS News: “I feel alright.”

Before retirement, Ms. Knight served as a Superintendent at the Jamaica Christian Boys’ Home for over 40 years.
“I used to care for the boys, send them to school, feed them and everything,” she said.

Ms. Knight, who describes herself as “a child of God,” believes that it is her investment in others why she is still given the gift of life at 101 years.

The blitz is the first of its kind in the Government’s three phased approach to rolling out the COVID-19 Vaccine Implementation Programme.

It is being held between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. for persons 75 years and older who had an appointment to receive the vaccine.
Approximately 70 doctors, public health nurses and community health aides are taking part in the event.

Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, said the Government intends to have more blitzes across the island.
“The intention is to have them in every parish over an extended period of time, once we have the vaccines, so that we can do, as quickly as possible, more of the population,” he said.

As of March 26, a total of 33,642 persons had received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by AstraZeneca. This represents 71 per cent of the target for the month of March.