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It took a team to get him a vaccine before turning 100

Thanks to a network of nieces working the web from around the county, “Uncle Eddie,” who will turn 100 in April, was finally able to get his first COVID-19 vaccine.

Eddie "Uncle Eddie" Hill of Edgewater Park, who will turn 100 on April 20, is finally able to get his first COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday at the CVS in Gibbsboro. Nikki Samson (left) a member of his Alpha Baptist Church in Willingboro drove him for the shot.
Eddie "Uncle Eddie" Hill of Edgewater Park, who will turn 100 on April 20, is finally able to get his first COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday at the CVS in Gibbsboro. Nikki Samson (left) a member of his Alpha Baptist Church in Willingboro drove him for the shot.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
    by Tom Gralish
    Updated 
    Published 

Eddie “Uncle Eddie” Hill, who will turn 100 April 20, was finally able to get his first COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday, after months of trying with the help of a network of nieces living around the country.

The World War II veteran, originally from South Carolina, has been active since he retired as an engineer for the state for New Jersey, still driving and even shopping for neighbors in his Edgewater Park retirement community.

He got himself scheduled for what he was told was the first available vaccine appointment — but that wasn’t until September 29. That’s when his nieces stepped in to help. They have a family Zoom call every two weeks, and two nieces in Texas, one in Virginia and another in New Jersey started doing the online work.

Yvette Murray, who lives in Pearland, Texas, near Houston, said the nieces were all “on every website in New Jersey trying to get him an appointment — hopefully before he turned 100.”

They also contacted his Alpha Baptist Church in Willingboro, and Nikki Samson, who had seen him in church on Sundays before they went virtual, reached out to friends and with her help, the family was finally able to get him an appointment at the CVS in Gibbsboro.