Navajo president gets Covid-19 vaccine

GALLUP, N.M – Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez received the Corona virus vaccine live on Facebook hoping to ensure people that the shot is safe and necessary.

On December 31, with a report that 22,277 Navajos had tested positive for the virus, Nez sat down at the Gallup Indian Medical Center and rolled up his sleeve.

“As president of the great Navajo Nation I want to show people that we support our scientists and medical professionals,” Nez said. “Let everybody know that we have confidence. Navajo doctors say it’s safe. Professionals say it’s safe. I am going to roll up my sleeve. You can see me taking it to bring back public confidence to push back on the virus. It hit us hard on the Navajo Nation.”

Some people have questions about whether to take the virus, Nez continued.

“It’s 2021. Hopeful change is happening. We can look forward to some better times ahead of us. I want to show people not to fear, not to question the professional people. We are at a turning point in this pandemic”

“Don’t get nervous,” he added. “I expect a little soreness on my arm tomorrow. For Navajo people who may be on the fence, we love you. We appreciate the help. We will overcome this virus.”

After a nurse administered the shot, Nez said “that was that, not even a faint pinch.”

He then received a card telling him when to return for a second dose of the vaccine.

“We move into the future thanks to medical professionals on the Navajo Nation and all over the world. We’ve gone through tough times, we overcame TB. Now we have COVID- 19,” he said.

Several members of the Navajo Nation Council and medical professionals then took turns to receive the vaccine.

“We are fortunate to get the vaccine,” said Council delegate Paul Begay.

“It’s something positive, no question,” said Council delegate Edison Wauneka who added that “the medical professionals are being cautious. All who take the vaccine are monitored for adverse effects.”

Seth Damon, Navajo Nation Council Speaker, sat down next.

“We need for our people to know that the vaccine is safe. Please, please when this vaccine gets here please get this vaccine. It’s safe for the Navajo people,” Damon said. “I do not like needles. I was nervous. But this is for the Navajo people. If you’re afraid of needles that (shot) was nothing compared to what I thought it would be. Please know that it is safe. They keep you here for 15 minutes to make sure there are no side effects. Be sure to tell your parents, and  grandparents. If you are the bread winner take your parents, your grandparents (for the vaccine). It is critical for elders for our youth, for our people.”

Dr. Loretta Christensen, chief medical officer of the Navajo Area Indian Health Service, also received a shot.

“Make an appointment. It’s safe,” she said. “Help protect you, your family and your community. We depend on the Navajo people to help us. Get your vaccine.”

According to a press release on January 13 The Navajo Nation Department of Health reported that the total number of positive cases of COVID-19 on the reservation stood at 25,746. The total number of deaths: 879. And, 218,791 Covid-19 tests had been administered.

“It’s great to see so many of our elders receiving the COVID-19 vaccines, but we have to keep our guard up as the number of new cases remains very high in regions near and around the Navajo Nation and across the country,” Nez says in the press release. “I am very thankful to all of our health care workers who continue to work under very stressful and demanding conditions to help our people. We will overcome the pandemic, but it takes all of us to accomplish it.”

The numbers of daily cases seem to be flattening, he says, but he urged people to remain diligent and practice safety measures including staying home to lessen the spread of COVID-19.

“Our health care experts are doing their very best to rid our communities of this invisible monster, but they cannot do it alone. We have to help them by staying home as much as possible, wearing a mask avoiding gatherings, practicing social distancing and washing hands often with soap and warm water,” Nez said.

The Navajo Nation website lists more than 30 places throughout the reservation where people can receive the vaccine including chapter houses, medical centers and health clinics. They relied on radio, social media and local newspapers to spread information about the vaccines.

Nez recently issued a Health Emergency Order extending the previous stay-at-home order to January 25 which includes a 57-hour weekend lockdown. The weekend lockdown starts at 8 p.m. on Friday and ends at 5 a.m. on Monday. Residents are required to remain at home except for essential workers going to and from work and for emergencies. People can only leave to obtain food, and medicine, tend livestock, gather firewood or exercise close to home.

Businesses such as gas stations, grocery stores, laundromats, and restaurants with curbside service can be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

In another town Hall on January 14, Nez, vice president Myron Lizer and others spoke while visiting several sites where vaccines were being administered.

The Navajo Nation has received 26,455 doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and has given 20,398 shots to people, Lizer said.

Others urged residents to trust the vaccine. They also said that it is important to get both shots to be 95 percent effective.

President Nez reported that his arm was “a little sore after the shot and he had a little headache which might have been from the excitement. There was no other effect or reaction.”

He urged people to continue to wear a mask, social distance and stay home. “We are a long way to normal but this is a start,” he said of the vaccine.

Dr. Michael Edwards of the New Mexico Department of Health said that there is a variant strain of the vaccine but that “the vaccine works on it.”

People should avoid big gatherings, he added.

Laura Hammitt, director of Infectious Disease Programs at the Center for American Indian Health at Johns Hopkins University, said that thousands of trials of the vaccine including those on the Navajo Nation have shown it to be safe and 95 percent effective if two shots are taken.

She added that the Navajo Nation “has done a better job getting vaccines out than other places.”

Captain Brian Johnson, deputy director of the Navajo Area Indian Health Service said that there is a lot of misleading information about the vaccine and suggested that people rely on information from their doctors and from the Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins University.

“The vaccine is the safest, most reliable way to put an end to this pandemic,” he said.

Calls to the Navajo Nation and the Indian Health Service were not returned.

(Kate Saltzstein can be reached at salty223@aol.com)

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