The 91-year-old cousin of state Rep. Dylan Fernandes, D-Falmouth, was one of the first recipients of the COVID-19 vaccine in the world.
The U.K. began distributing Pfizer’s vaccine on Tuesday, and Martin Kenyon called to get an appointment. He spoke to a CNN reporter, and the clip was retweeted on Twitter by Fernandes.
“This Is my cousin!!! He’s 91 & one of the first people to get the vaccine in the world,” Fernandes tweeted. “We all hope to ‘not have that bloody bug now!’ What a legend.”
The interview clip was first posted by CNN’s senior media reporter Oliver Darcy, who wrote, “This interview wins the day.”
Indeed, a rather spry Kenyon talks matter-of-factly about getting the shot. “It didn’t hurt at all. I barely noticed it went in until it came out,” he told the CNN reporter.
The reporter asks him how he feels being among the first in the world to receive the shot. “I don’t feel about it at all, except I hope I’m not going to get the bloody bug now,” he said, noting that he wants to live a long time for his granddaughters so he can hug them.
Asked if his family knew about him getting the vaccination, Kenyon deadpanned, “No one knows. You’re the first to know.”
Showing the reporter a card that indicates when he has to return for a second shot, Kenyon said, “Very unexciting.”
In a text message, Fernandes wrote that he learned of his cousin’s good fortune through his mother. Asked if Kenyon has ever traveled to Martha’s Vineyard, Fernandes texted, “He’s stayed with us in Woods Hole before, so it’s likely he took a boat over for a trip, but dunno.” (There’s always a Martha’s Vineyard connection.)
Back to Kenyon’s interview with CNN. “No point in dying now when I’ve lived this long,” he told the reporter. “I don’t intend to, anyway.”