Mercy Hospital administered the first COVID-19 vaccine in the 1B-2 category to a 98 year old WWII Veteran today.
Edgar Fox wrote a letter to his doctor, volunteering to take the dose as soon as he could to encourage skeptics.
Fox joined the Marines in 1939 and told the health system, taking the vaccine was a different way to serve again.
You can read more with a press release from Mercy Springfield below…
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (Jan. 18, 2021) – World War II veteran Edgar Fox wrote his primary care physician at the beginning of the year. In the letter, the 98-year-old told Dr. Nelson Dela Rosa he wanted to volunteer to receive the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as he could to “encourage skeptics.”
Today, Fox got his wish, becoming the first person at Mercy Hospital Springfield to get a vaccine in the state of Missouri’s 1B-2 category.
Fox lives alone in a Springfield apartment, having retired from the military in 1969. He joined the Marines in 1939 and served in the Pacific during WWII, including the Battles of Midway and Iwo Jima and during the occupation of Japan. He remained in the Marines to serve in Korea, before coming home to get married. Then, he served his country again in Europe.
He said today was a different way to serve again.
