Gogglebox Silbery family’s plea for Australians to get the Covid jab

History is repeating itself for Gogglebox grandma Emmie Silbery, who once nursed patients before the discovery of a vaccine.

As a 16-year-old nurse fresh from school, Gogglebox’s grandma Emmie worked on the polio ward in The Royal Hobart hospital.

Young people were dying, or placed in an iron lung – a large tank respirator that would pull air in and out of the lungs, allowing them to breathe.

“It was awful – it was terrible,” Emmie shared.

Emmie walked on to the ward one day and recognised a teacher from her high school.

“I had to do everything for him – I had to help him go to the toilet while he was flat on his back,” the now 92-year-old shared.

“It was so sad to see him just lying there like that.”

Nana Emily "Emmie" from Gogglebox Silbery family receives her Covid vaccination. Picture: Supplied

Emmie Silbery, first on the left, used to nurse patients in the polio wards. Picture: Supplied

At the time no one knew how polio was transmitted, or even what caused it.

It was years before the oral vaccine was developed ultimately eradicating the devastating disease which caused permanent paralysis in people’s arms, legs or breathing muscles.

“If it hadn’t been for vaccinations, we would have died when we were growing up,” Emmie said.

“I just can’t understand people who don’t believe in vaccinations. They are worked out by clever people, by scientists who know what they are doing.”

The three generations of Silbery family, who we first met in 2016 as they sat together on their sofa for the Logie-winning Foxtel reality show – are all fully vaxxed against Covid-19 – daughter Isabelle with Pfizer, her mum Kerry and Emmie with AstraZeneca.

The Silbery trio are pro-vax. Picture: Foxtel

Mum Kerry gets the Covid jab. Picture: Supplied

The trio is calling on their fellow Australians to follow in their footsteps.

“It was imperative for me – I absolutely had to have it because of mum’s age,” Kerry said.

Isabelle said her initial desire to have the jab was to protect her grandma and the other most vulnerable in our society.

“But I also got mine because we’re all just getting so annoyed with the lockdowns,” she said, adding she was also fed up with homeschooling her son and being separated from her mum and beloved grandma.

“The quicker we all get vaccinated, the more likely we are to get back to normality.

“I want to get married and go on a honeymoon with my partner. I haven’t even been able to go overseas with him – we fell in love during Covid, we haven’t even been able to travel together. I’ll do anything to get back to normal life.”

Originally published as Gogglebox Silbery family’s plea for Australians to get the Covid jab