‘I thought he was invincible.’ Bay St. Louis loses vaccinated marine officer to COVID-19
The last time Corey Jennings saw his father was through the window of a Bay St. Louis house on July 5 — his 21st birthday.
Tommy Jennings, a Mississippi Department of Marine Resources senior master sergeant, was sick at home with COVID-19, but he gave Corey a handgun as a birthday present.
Corey said he expected that after his father recovered, they would shoot the gun together and go to a dive bar they’d talked about going to when he finally turned 21.
But it never happened.
Two weeks later, on July 20, Officer Jennings died of a heart attack from COVID-19 complications at Memorial Hospital in Gulfport — the same hospital he was born in 49 years ago.
He had received both doses of the Pfizer vaccine, and found out he was diabetic earlier this summer.
“He would tell me, at one point, you’re going to have to do things when I’m not here,” Corey Jennings told the Sun Herald. “I didn’t think it would be when I turned 21, that’s for damn sure.
“I thought it was going to be when I had kids, and he could be that fun grandpa that could show them stuff. And it’s kind of heartbreaking that that’s not going to happen.”
The former Hancock County sheriff’s deputy was one of the unlucky few who, after receiving both shots, could not build antibodies to fight the coronavirus, according to his children.
Evidence suggests that some immunocompromised people do not produce a strong antibody response after vaccination — meaning those who have conditions that make them prone to severe illness from COVID may not make antibodies powerful enough to prevent the virus.
The Centers for Disease Control says that having type 1 or type 2 diabetes can make a patient more likely to get severely ill from COVID-19.
In a Mississippi State Medical Association press conference on Friday, State Medical Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs confirmed the efficacy of the vaccine, even when in rare cases like Jennings’ some contract or die from COVID-19 after being fully vaccinated.
The vaccines are 88% effective against the delta variant, he said.
“Eighty-eight percent is not 100%. The exception cannot undermine the majority of the success,” Dobbs said. “We’re narrative-based, we’re story-based. So let your heart-cognitive function understand that.”
After Jennings contracted what his doctors believe was the delta variant some time after Father’s Day on June 20, his illness turned to pneumonia.
He was hit hard by the illness — in the hospital for about a week, and the last couple of days in the intensive care unit.
Jennings’ daughter, Ashlynn, got to visit while he was in the ICU, and Corey was planning on visiting the day he passed away.
“He was unconscious when we visited him. He was put into a medical coma, that was his choice because he was having a hard time fighting the virus,” Ashlynn said.
“It was hard to see him like that, but I never thought for one minute that he was going to die.”
The night before Jennings passed away, Ashlynn said he seemed to be turning a corner. His nurses said that his oxygen capacity increased to 100% on the ventilator, and he was able to regulate his own blood pressure.
The next morning, he had his heart attack and died around 1 p.m.
“He was fully vaccinated, he was not a smoker or a drinker. He was very healthy, he was very active. He did anything that he wanted to do. He was invincible. And this virus took him down because he didn’t have the antibodies to fight it,” Ashlynn said.
“I thought he was invincible. I really did. If anyone could be invincible, it would be my dad.”
Since his death on Tuesday, Jennings’ children have received an overwhelming amount of community support. Officer Jennings had a larger-than-life reputation. People knew him to be friendly, giving and reliable.
“He would take the shirt off of his own back to help someone. He was that type of guy. He helped anyone. Everyone I know has some type of story where he’s helped them in some way,” Corey said.
“I would hate going shopping with him. Because no matter what, at the store he would stop and talk to someone for 30 minutes to an hour.”
DMR Executive Director Joe Spraggins commented on Facebook, “Please pray for Officer Tommy Jennings family. We are all extremely heart broken for the loss of a Great Officer, Great Person and a Great Friend. Tommy will be greatly missed by the entire DMR family. RIP my friend.”
Former DMR Chief Law Enforcement Officer Keith Davis, now chief of staff for Secretary of State Michael Watson, commented, “I am so saddened to hear of this loss. You and the Marine Patrol are sincerely in my prayers Director Spraggins. RIP Officer Jennings.”
State Sen. Jeremy England commented, “Very sad. Praying for his family and many friends.”
The Jennings children believe that their father contracted COVID during a diving trip he took with his girlfriend in Florida right after Father’s Day.
Both Cory and Ashlynn said their father left the trip early because he was worried about the number of people where he was vacationing.
“It’s definitely one of those things that you don’t think it’s going to happen to you, and when it does — because a good amount of my friends have had COVID, I thought he would be fine. I thought when he got out of the hospital we would be going to that dive bar he wanted to take me to. But unfortunately, we never got that chance,” Corey said.
“It does make me want to be more cautious about COVID. Because if a guy that size — he was built — affecting someone that strong has me worried. He was the strongest person in my eyes. And it just downright killed him.”
This story was originally published July 26, 2021 at 5:50 AM.
CORRECTION: Keith Davis is now the deputy commissioner for the Department of Public Safety. An earlier version of this story contained an incorrect title.
