WWII veteran in Bedford is nation’s first VA patient to receive COVID-19 vaccine

BEDFORD, MASS. (WHDH) - VA Bedford Healthcare System shared a photo Monday of the nation’s first VA patient to receive the COVID-19 vaccine as it is rolled out to hospitals across the country.

World War II veteran Margaret Klessens, 96, received the vaccine around noontime.

“I thought it was going to be weeks before we got it,” she said. “It was a shock to me to, bang, to get out right today.”

The image was accompanied by the hashtag #makinghistory.

“After I got that shot they all were asking me, ‘How do you feel? How do you feel? And I says, ‘Gee maybe I should feel bad,’ but I didn’t. Even up to now I don’t,” Klessens said laughing.

Klessens did clerical work during the war and said she was eager to roll up her sleeve. No one had to twist her arm.

“Well the truth, I’ll tell you is I hear so many people saying, ‘Oh it really isn’t a big deal it’s just a little cold.’ — Since March I’ve heard that” she said. “And when I read all the people that are dying and just… How could they come out and say a thing like that? That there’s nothing going on. They must have smartened up now.”

Getting vaccinated means she will be able to connect with her friends and family in person again.

“It will mean that I can go out with them and I can do what I used to do with them,” Klessens said. “That’s what it means to me is to love them, just love them. I miss them.”

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