A FLAGSTONE woman who had a serious reaction to the Pfizer COVID vaccine last month remains pro-vaccination although the jab almost cost her life.
Susan Hawke, wife of former Beaudesert Uniting Church minister Reverend David Hawke, said she had a minor reaction to the first dose of vaccine but ended up in hospital for two weeks after her second jab.
"With the first one I was very tired and had a few aches and pains," she said.
"After the second one I was feeling unwell for a couple of days and on the third day I had chest pain.
"They thought I had possibly had a heart attack but I had perimyocarditis."
Ms Hawke said she also had damage to her kidneys and lymphatic system but did not want to scare anyone away from being vaccinated.
"We are still pro vaccine and I don't want to put anyone off," she said.
"It was just one of those things, sometimes you're it ... They said about one in 250,000 women in my age group presents with the reaction I had.
"The heart specialist said if I had that reaction to the vaccine, they may not have been able to save me if I had COVID.
"I'd rather be sick than lose my life.
"With medication and rest I'm feeling good now."
After being released from hospital, Ms Hawke noticed a worrying lesion on her husband's foot, which ended up in him being hospitalised as well.
"Because he has diabetes he didn't feel it but he had an infection," she said.
Rev Hawke, who is known at Beaudesert for his church's charitable works, said he had been in hospital on the Sunshine Coast as the couple was visiting his ailing mother-in-law in her final days.
"This thing on my foot, I couldn't feel it or see it but I nearly lost my foot," he said.
Reverend Hawke said he was no longer preaching at Beaudesert Uniting Church after a disagreement over whether services should be kept traditional or made more relevant to the modern world.
He said he was relieved that his wife had bounced back after her health scare.
"She's turned a corner now," he said.
"When she first got out of hospital she could hardly walk from the bedroom to the bathroom."
This comes as the government scrambles to get more people vaccinated before the borders reopen on December 17. As of Sunday 75.1 per cent of Scenic Rim residents had received their first COVID jab and 59.5 per cent were double jabbed. It was the last chance for Scenic Rim residents to be sure they reached the double dose target in time to protect them from predicted outbreaks.
