17-year-old frontline volunteer gets COVID-19 vaccine

PHILADELPHIA - A 17-year-old self-proclaimed future doctor has been putting in hundreds of volunteer hours since the very beginning of this pandemic.

As a frontline healthcare worker, she’s one of the first to get the vaccine. 
Kayla Foy is also hoping to inspire younger generations to do the same. 
  
Foy is a volunteer with the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium, an organization that has helped test more than 15,000 people for COVID-19. 

Kayla plays a critical role in these tests gathering necessary information like race, gender & ethnicity. 

She says this information is crucial to know specifics about who is getting covid-19. 

"Is it with more people... More Black people? Is it more white people? Is it people with conditions such as asthma and heart disease. It’s just trying to get numbers on who is contracting the virus more," Kayla explained.

Because of her work as a frontline healthcare worker, Kayla will be one of the first people in our region to receive a covid-19 vaccine. 

"A little nervous! Yeah, just a little bit. But I thought it’s better to get the vaccine than COVID," she says. 

"She’s what I call a world beater!" Dr. Reginald Foy, who is an anesthesiologist & also volunteers at BDCC as well, said. He says he’s confident in the science of the vaccine. "I am not nervous, I’m also a healthcare worker. If I had any skepticism, I wouldn’t allow her to do it to be quite honest with you"

With the shot now administered and given, kayla says, we got this, don’t give up. 

"I definitely think we can beat this, but we can’t beat it without help! People need to cooperate, wear a mask, social distance...It’s gonna be worth it in the long run!"

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