Las Cruces nurse couple says vaccine protected them after their 4 kids caught Covid at school

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico - Two Las Cruces nurses credit the Pfizer vaccine with protecting them from the coronavirus after all four of their children tested positive for Covid-19 back in January.

"We put it to the test," said Kara Carrasco, an operating room nurse at Memorial Medical Center said Friday. "We are proof. We were both protected. Neither of us came down with Covid."

The parents believe their five-year-old triplets and their ten-year-old daughter contracted the virus from their private school, which they were attending in person at the time. Thankfully, they said Miles, Maddox, Maya and Madison had minor symptoms.

"Putting it to the test with my family and my kids, I was a believer," said Abel Carrasco, an intensive care unit nurse at Memorial Medical Center. "It worked. It's the only thing that kept us safe and protected."

The couple not only witnessed firsthand the toll that the virus took on area hospitals, but Abel lost his aunt to the virus. He encourages everyone to get vaccinated to prevent the loss of more lives.

"We thought for sure we were going to get sick," Abel said. "We didn't."

As of Thursday afternoon, 57.5% of eligible New Mexico residents had at least one dose and 40.4% were fully vaccinated, according to the state's vaccine dashboard. Kara encourages un-vaccinated members of the community to inform themselves.

"Talk to somebody about what your fears are so you can get real medical information," Kara said. "The more people we get vaccinated, the more we have that herd immunity, the closer we are going to get to normal."