Man Receives COVID-19 Vaccine, Remembers Experience Of Getting Polio Vaccine

On Wednesday seniors lined up at a metro church to get their COVID-19 vaccine. But for one Oklahoman, this wasn’t his first time getting vaccinated to fight off a serious virus.

News 9 spoke with several people getting their vaccine at Britton Christian Church. They said they were just excited to finally be able to get their COVID-19 vaccine.

Doug Latham got his vaccine Wednesday morning.

“I was more anxious waiting to find an opportunity because as it's been reported it is hard to find some locations that have the shot available,” he said.

Latham is one of 300 people who were able to get a vaccine. The building typically known as a diverse place of worship became a place to save lives.

“As a child I received a vaccine for an immunization against polio and this card is dated 1963,” Latham said.

58 years later he is here to talk about it.

“I just want people to know that you can get the vaccine and survive a long time after that," Latham said.

Latham said back in 1963 getting the polio vaccine was actually kind of a sweet experience.

"It was really easy it was given on a dose of a sugar cube so, what child doesn’t want to eat a sugar cube. Now it’s a shot but they did a great job and I hardly felt it," Latham said.

Latham said his message to people is to just go out and get the vaccine.

Variety Care partnered with Britton Christian Church and Urban League to host a point of distribution (pod) for the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. Wednesday the organizations served Oklahoma residents 65 and older in the Britton district.

Lance Evans is the Variety Care director of communications and he said one of their goals is to reach minorities.

“There are a lot of minorities that reside within this community. Britton church is such a diverse and inclusive congregation,” Evans said. “I was talking with one of their members today and they were just talking about how diverse and inclusive and welcoming the church is to individuals of all different backgrounds. So, we definitely wanted this to be an access point for individuals to access the vaccine.” 

Evans said each and every vaccine matters. 

“Each vaccine represents a life that can be saved so that is why we don’t want to leave vaccines stocked. We really want to get them into individuals as soon as we have them available,” Evans said.