NEW ORLEANS — There are all sorts of reasons why people feel uncomfortable about getting a COVID vaccine.
And sometimes, all it takes is some good, solid medical advice from a doctor to walk you through your concerns.
That's what happened when Medical Reporter Meg Farris, by chance, got to talk with one of our local musicians.
Now, he's a step closer to immunity and getting back out to perform.
It all started with solving a mystery. A friend asked me to get a Mary Soniat painting to the man in the portrait. I asked entertainer Charmaine Neville for help. She said it was well-known saxophone player Charles Elam, aka “Chucky C.”
Chucky confirmed over the phone that he was the face in the portrait I had texted to him, but we also talked about the pandemic and the lack of gigs for our prized NOLA talent.
“It was pretty rough. Luckily, I have a lot of friends around the country who care about me, send some checks. One guy was a total stranger,” Elam explained, about a member of the U.S. Coast Guard who said he and his family enjoyed one of his performances on a trip to New Orleans.
He’s played worldwide and at every Jazz Fest since 1974. He has played with, Irma Thomas, the late, Marva Wright, Aaron Neville, and Paul Simon, who in a recording session said he was very impressed with Elam’s performance.
Elam remembers Simon said after the recording about him, “(He) came in here, gave me exactly what the hell, took me two weeks to make this part up he comes in here with 10 seconds worth of sample and nails the part.”
Chucky has tried to stay home during the pandemic. He has been scared to get the COVID vaccine because of past reactions to flu vaccines. So Medical Watch put him in touch with LSU Health's infectious disease expert Dr. Fred Lopez, who then consulted with Chucky's doctors.
“It was a consensus amongst us that it was safe for him to receive the vaccine,” said Dr. Lopez after researching Elam’s past reactions.
Doctors and Chucky know he is at high risk for serious complications if he catches the virus. The risk factors he has include being overweight, borderline diabetic, a smoker, 63-years-old, and African-American.
So now with the medical okay, I took no excuses to protect one of our treasures. I told Chucky he had to meet me and photographer Brian Lukas at the vaccine site the next morning at 10 a.m.
“Putting the ole strong-arm tactic on me,” Chucky laughed about what I told him on the phone. When I told him I wasn't going to let him say no and back out, he responded about the pressure, “Did I ever feel that.”
And in an instant at the LSU Health mass vax site, he got his first of two doses.
“Oh, you did the first one?” he asked the nurse surprisingly, who gave him the vaccine. “Yes, I gave it to you,” she replied. “You are smooth,” Chucky laughed.
Then he began to sing. “I think that was alright, feeling alright, uh-huh.”
“I’m not feeling too good myself uh-huh,” I sang back.
Soon Chucky will feel comfortable at gigs again. He will get to stop grocery shopping just before closing time, to make sure he is alone, and he can stop holding his breath, as he has been doing out of concern when he passes someone.
Later outside he took out his tenor saxophone and played and sang, “Forever my darling, I’ll always be true. Always and forever, I love only you.”
And Dr. Lopez said that anyone who is concerned about getting a vaccine because of a past medical condition should talk to their personal physician.
To make an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccine at LSU Health at 2020 Gravier: https://911.lsuhsc.edu/coronavirus/campus-vaccine-info.aspx