SC’s ‘oldest resident,’ a 111 year old who lived through Spanish flu, gets vaccinated
South Carolina’s “oldest resident,” 111-year-old Maria Aulenbacher, got vaccinated for the COVID-19 vaccine last week, according to a statement from Prisma Health.
Aulenbacher, who survived the 1919 Spanish flu pandemic, got her first dose of the vaccine alongside her daughter and son-in-law, both in their 70s, at Prisma Health’s mass-vaccination site in Greenville.
“I’m just happy to have this opportunity to help keep healthy and keep everyone around me healthy,” Aulenbacher said in a Prisma statement, which said she was declared the state’s oldest resident last year. “I can’t wait until I can hug my great grandson again. I look forward to our family safely all being together. I have missed hugging my great grandson, Alex.”
Aulenbacher, who’d lived in Germany until about a decade ago, wanted to get the vaccine to show that “anyone and everyone should take it,” her daughter Birgit Dickerson said in the statement.
“We feel we are doing our part,” Dickerson said. “This was a very easy process, and everybody was wonderful. As a family, we all have all thought of our healthcare and frontline professionals throughout the pandemic, our thoughts have been with them. We are so grateful to them for all they have done and the sacrifices they have made.”
Prisma Health’s chief medical officer for ambulatory services Saria Saccocio called Aulenbacher a “true vaccination hero.”
“This wise woman is setting the example for all of us. I hope everyone will follow her lead and roll up their sleeves to get their own shots when eligible,” Saccocio said in a statement.
Saccocio reminded South Carolinians, though, that vaccine distribution may take time.
“For the time being, we all need to continue to socially distance, wear masks and wash hands often. If you’re sick, please stay home and contact your healthcare providers to what see what next steps are best for you,” Saccocio said.
State Department of Health and Environmental Control officials anticipate that the COVID-19 vaccine will not be available for the general public until at least late summer.
This story was originally published February 2, 2021 at 4:09 PM.
