Ninety-five-year-old Hugh McMillan doesn’t want to hear why you haven’t been vaccinated for COVID-19. The World War II and Central Intelligence Agency veteran says now is no time for excuses.

“Stay alive and keep your kids alive and keep your neighbors alive,” the longtime Key Peninsula resident said. “Get the shot.” 

Just more than 50% of Pierce County residents are fully vaccinated, with more than 57% having received at least one dose. Though the county is on track to reach 1 million doses soon, hundreds of thousands of Pierce County residents remain vulnerable. 

McMillan says reluctance for vaccine is “puzzling.” The misinformation surrounding vaccine irks him most.

“The evidence is there,” McMillan said. “But I keep hearing people come up with these cockamamie stories that the shot will make you sterile. Or the shot will put a chip in your body. That’s all horse pucky.”

From polio to COVID-19. 

McMillan is old enough to remember another pandemic that immobilized the nation.

“I go back a couple of years, as you know,” McMillan said. “And I remember as a 6-year-old, our country got whacked—as did the world—with a funny thing called polio.” 

By the late 1940s, polio disabled an average of 35,000 Americans each year. But the polio vaccine arrived in 1955 and the United States hasn’t seen a case since 1979. 

McMillan compared the disease that debilitated America then with the one doing it now. 

“We successfully eradicated polio,” McMillan said. “And if people think this monstrous thing that is strangling our world right now, COVID-19, can’t be licked, they’re not thinking.” 

While he hasn’t seen it yet, McMillan hopes for the same collective push for COVID-19 vaccinations he saw during polio.

“I don’t recall anyone not getting behind (the polio vaccine),” McMillan said. “We all did it. Here we are. We’re still here.” 

The duty to get vaccinated. 

McMillan recalls getting vaccinated for a variety of ailments when he enlisted in the Navy. He remembers the date easily: Oct. 8, 1944. 

What he doesn’t remember is hesitation from himself or anyone else. 

“I had tetanus shots, you name it,” McMillan said. “The whole schmear and I could hardly tell I was getting the shots. And here I am, still alive and breathing, because I got my shots.” 

McMillan says he swore 3 oaths to the Constitution in his lifetime. Upon his Navy enlistment in 1944. Again, when he joined the US Airforce Aviation Cadets in 1948. And again, when he started with the CIA in 1952. McMillan believes this oath—his commitment—goes hand-in-hand with getting vaccinated. 

“I swore allegiance and I still swear allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America,” McMillan said. “Part of that, as far as I’m concerned, is get your shots so you can be around to defend the Constitution.” 

Find your dose today.

Whether for patriotism, for your neighbors or simply for yourself, vaccinations are the way out of COVID-19. Take it from McMillan. He’s seen it before. 

“Anyone who dies from this bug is someone we should not lose. We need everybody.” 

Find your COVID-19 vaccine dose today at tpchd.org/vaxtothefuture.

If you need a ride or can’t easily leave home, we can help! Call (253) 649-1412, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., 7 days a week.

Your role to stop the spread of COVID-19 remains critical.

• Wear your mask.
• If you’re sick, stay home.
• Wash your hands frequently.
• Get tested if you experience symptoms or were exposed.