The first COVID-19 vaccination in Windsor-Essex has been administered at the St. Clair College Sportsplex in Windsor.
The vaccination was given out Tuesday morning to Krystal Meloche, a healthcare worker at Seasons Belle River, a seniors retirement home at 1700 Essex County Rd. 22 in Lakeshore.
Seven individuals were vaccinated in the first hour and another 130 vaccinations are expected to take place Tuesday.
"I'm honoured, I'm very honoured to be one of the first ones to have this vaccine," said Meloche.
She told the media that COVID-19 took the life of her father George, who passed away June 19 after spending 16 days on a ventilator. He was 73.
"I know what he went through and the heart ache that we're all going through," she says. "I know he's with me right now and he's very proud of this, and he I know he would have been for me doing this."
Meloche also says she hopes everyone will get the vaccine.
"This is an extra precaution to protect yourself against this," she said. "I hope that more people will step up and do this, take the precaution to protect yourself and protect your loved ones. This isn't going away anytime soon.
The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit announced last Friday that the vaccine will be issued first to employees who work at long-term care or retirement homes that are not in outbreak.
The vaccine will then be issued to workers at facilities that have come out of an outbreak followed by homes that have the outbreak contained.