After 11 grueling months working on the front lines at South Coast Global Medical Center in Santa Ana, Tim Zook finally felt hopeful.
The 60-year-old X-ray technologist had watched COVID-19 patients struggle to breathe and families devastated by loss, and he had grappled with his own fears about bringing the deadly virus home to his family. After receiving his second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, he immediately shared his enthusiasm on Facebook.
“Never been so excited to get a shot before,” he wrote Jan. 5, sharing a photo of a Band-Aid on his arm and his completed COVID-19 vaccination card.
“He worked tirelessly this whole year trying to save people’s lives who were impacted by COVID,” said his wife, Rochelle Zook, of Orange. “He came home all year long very emotional, sad about the kind of death he was seeing in this community. But he never gave up. He believed in order to stop this virus you have to take the vaccine.”