Two weeks after the first COVID-19 vaccine was administered in Florida, Spectrum Bay News 9’s Katya Guillaume sat down and spoke to her sister Genevieve Ovincy, a Pasco County travel Intensive Care Unit nurse who is vacationing in South Florida, on her experience getting the vaccine. 

For months, the COVID-19 vaccine has been a topic of conversation. Ovincy is Guillaume’s older sister and while they try to make each other laugh as much as possible, they put that aside for a second to have a serious conversation.

“I’m glad that you were able to get the vaccine, how was that,” Guillaume asked.

Holding her arm, Ovincy said, “Girl my arms hurt,” but she said the benefits of getting the Moderna vaccine far outweighs the little discomfort.

“I wish people can have a glimpse of what it’s like being an ICU nurse during this time frame,” she said. “Come in and walk in our shoes for a minute because it is brutal because it is hard. We didn’t go into medicine to go up against something like this and think that we’re doing everything that we can, trying to make people feel better and then everything that we’re doing, some of the things that we’re doing is not working.” 

She said she’s grateful and that protection has come for not only her and her family, but her patients as well. 

When the time came for her to apply, she did it was without any hesitation and her approval came weeks later while on vacation in Palm Beach County.

“From what I understand, Moderna was the only one that was available to be given, that was the only one distributed in the county,” and she encourages everyone to research the best option for them and their families.