Robbie Vargas-Cortes, 31, a paramedic and SME supervisor, was scheduled to receive the vaccination on December 23 and knew that her five-year-old boyfriend was one of the vaccine administrators at Sanford Canton-Inwood Medical Center.
“I wanted it to be a surprise,” Vargas-Cortes told CNN.
Eric Vanderlee, a registered nurse, told CNN that he had no idea that the proposal was coming. When Vargas-Cortes rolled up his sleeve and there was already tape on his arm, he thought his boyfriend was playing, indicating where the vaccine should go, “as a target or something”.
But Vargas-Cortes had pasted a ring on his arm.
“I kind of realized and I thought, ‘absolutely, sure, yes.’ It was an incredible moment after I found out, “said Vanderlee.
Vanderlee then had to administer the vaccine to his new fiancé.
And within 10 minutes, Vargas-Cortes, vaccinated and engaged, was out the door answering an ambulance call.
“Congratulations, Eric and Robby!” Sanford Health said in a Facebook post along with a video of the proposal.
“If you like it, you should put a ring and vaccine on it! Congratulations !!” a user commented on the post.
Vargas-Cortes said he had had the ring for three years and was waiting for the right moment to ask the question. “We are reaching the end of the pandemic. The vaccine is a kind of new chapter,” he said.
Vanderlee offered last month to start administering the vaccine at Sanford Health.
He lost his 86-year-old healthy grandfather, Norman Vanderlee, to Covid-19 in November.
“He was a wonderful man,” said Vanderlee. “Although we saw Covid as employees, finally having a family member die was shocking.”
For Vanderlee, vaccination has become a personal as well as a professional goal. “I want to be part of that goal. I feel like I can’t let this go. It’s like a once in a lifetime opportunity to be the one to give the vaccine if I get the chance,” he said.
The couple says they will not plan their wedding before the pandemic. But they feel lucky to have the right to take the big step when they’re ready.
“It gives me a new confidence to be right with who we are. I always say that I’m too scared to hold his hand in public, and now that it has happened, it seems kind of silly.”