NY Grandma Gets Prescription To Hug Granddaughter Post-Vaccine

NEW YORK CITY — After spending a year in isolation due to the pandemic, Evelyn Shaw got just what the doctor ordered.

It wasn't a new miracle treatment or the fact that, two weeks earlier, the New York City grandmother received her second dose of the coronavirus vaccine.

What she needed was a bit more special than that.

It came through a prescription written by her doctor. In seven words, the doctor gave Evelyn the perfect medicine.

“You are allowed to hug your granddaughter.”

That hug — the first in a year shared by Evelyn and granddaughter Ateret Frank — was captured on camera. Evelyn's tears in the video captured just how desperately she needed the embrace.

"This hug meant everything to her," Evelyn's daughter Jessica Shaw told Patch.

The special moment was planned with Ateret's help. Despite receiving her second dose of the coronavirus vaccine, Evelyn was nervous to return to life as normal, Evelyn's daughter Dr. Laura Shaw Frank said in a tweet.

Ateret shared Evelyn's concerns with her grandmother's doctor, who is also her doctor. Together, the pair came up with a plan to ease Evelyn's mind and give her that final little nudge. Ateret took the prescription slip home, wrote a personal note, and placed both in an envelope to give her grandmother once she was two weeks out from her second dose, the family told The Washington Post.

“She read the note and she burst out crying,” Laura told the Post. “She felt safe. Finally.”

After a year of loneliness and despair, the hug was "much needed," Jessica told Patch.

"It validated what the scientists and doctors have said, which was that if we can stay distanced, wear masks, get vaccinated and trust facts, we will be able to come out of this horrible pandemic," she said. "We are definitely not there yet — my mom can't even hug all of her grandchildren yet — but we're on the right path.

"I am so excited for everyone who will get their safe-to-hug moment. It'll be worth it."