LEXINGTON, S.C. — “I thank God everyday that I took the vaccine because in my heart I believe that’s what saved my life,” said Nicole McLinden.
McLinden is an infection control nurse and said she saw firsthand how COVID-19 has taken a toll on the people around her. Little did she know she would become infected.
“It is scary I mean especially when you see the people who get it, you’re working with the healthcare workers, being on the frontlines going into COVID facilities, it scares you,” she said.
McLinden received the Pfizer vaccine in December and was diagnosed with COVID-19 in August. She said she spent four days in the hospital.
“I was actually surprised because I had been vaccinated and I had caught it but I had a surgery right before this so there was other circumstances,” said McLinden.
She said if she were unvaccinated, her outcome would have been different.
“If I hadn’t of been vaccinated, I think I would have continued to get worse. I think that my body had time to help fight it off because I got the vaccine. I think that I would have been on a ventilator,” she said.
Her husband Clifford and ten year old son Caleb were also infected with COVID-19.
"He wears his mask all the time and he's always super vigilant and so when he caught it he was like, he was so scared,” she said about Caleb.
He said, "I was scared for my life.”
Her thirteen year old daughter Emma is also fully vaccinated and has not gotten the virus.
“I was like really excited because I was like yay maybe COVID might just like die down for like quite a while and I was kind of excited about that and being able to like go back to school,” said Emma.
McLinden said, “We can save people. We can save each other just by helping out. It’s about coming together. Our nation’s come together for a lot of things, we can come together for this too.”