104-year-old gets first vaccine dose one century after living through 1918 flu pandemic

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    COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (KETV) — Velma McElderry has now lived through two pandemics.

When she was just a toddler at 2 years old in 1918, she and her family made it through the global flu pandemic.

Now at 104 years old, the Council Bluffs woman received her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

“Well, I hope not to keep from getting some kind of illness,” she said from her own home Monday.

McElderry has been in isolation in her home since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020. Her daughter, Sue Peters, took her out for the first time in a year Saturday to get her first shot.

“It wasn’t that bad,” McElderry said. She said her arm doesn’t even hurt.

“It’s longevity. She’s a trooper. She’s amazing,” Peters said.

Peters said her mother makes her own breakfast. Peters pops over for lunch, while a son prepares dinner and gets her ready for bed.

McElderry grew up in Olmitz, Iowa, just south of town. Her father worked the coal mines there.

“There wasn’t much to do there, either in the mine or go out on the farm,” she said.

McElderry was just a toddler when the 1918 flu took hold of the world and killed 50 million people.

Although her family was spared, Peters said she repeated stories her mother told about living during that time.

“She did talk about it a little bit, how her mom would talk about the devastation and how it could it wipe out whole families,” Peters said.

The McElderry family of three children, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren have tried to keep their matriarch active with creative visits during this modern pandemic.

Videos, FaceTime, doorway visits and air hugs.

“It will be a big relief once she can get that second shot and start to see family and they can come all the way in the house and not have to worry about standing at the door or staying six feet apart. That will be nice,” Peters said.

She also hopes to return to her volunteer job at Methodist’s Jennie Edmundson Hospital, where she worked in the gift shop for the past 30 years.

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