Gayle King Says Being Vaccinated Against COVID Is Her 'Superpower': 'I'm Tired of Being Scared'

Gayle King is grateful for her COVID-19 vaccination.

The CBS This Morning co-host appeared virtually on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Tuesday when the TV personalities reflected on her last appearance a year ago at the height of the pandemic. King, 66, spoke about the sense of freedom she feels now that she received her COVID-19 vaccine.

"I was so afraid to leave the house, you're right," she recalled. "We were broadcasting from here, so I'd literally go from my bedroom to the TV room to the kitchen to the bedroom to the TV room. For excitement I'd go stand in the living room and wave at the birds! 'Hi, birds! Hi!' I was so afraid."

"But now, Stephen, I am vaccinated," said King. "It is my superpower. I am vaccinated. ... I'm taking little baby steps [back into the world]."

King later added, "Here's the thing: I'm tired of being scared. Honestly. I've been so afraid, hunkered down here at home. I'm tired of being scared."

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DIa Dipasupil/Getty Gayle King

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King's friend Oprah Winfrey previously also expressed her excitement about being vaccinated, writing in a personal essay for her digital platform Oprah Daily that she had profound relief and joy upon getting the COVID-19 vaccine.

"Stedman [Graham] and I were blessed enough to be able to create our own bubble at home during the pandemic," Winfrey, 67, wrote, noting that they were very strict about letting people join them. "Anyone who wanted to come from outside had to be quarantined in our guest house for 14 days. No exceptions —not even Gayle."

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"The first shot, I wanted to cry but didn't, just from the overwhelming sense of relief. I'd had pneumonia the previous year, and my lungs were still sensitive," she wrote. "I was very much afraid of the toll COVID-19 would take on me; it's why I was so super strict about the goings and comings of everyone in my space."

"After the second vaccination shot, I didn't feel well for about 30 hours. I had all the classic symptoms: fever, chills, lethargy. But it was such a small inconvenience to be protected against a virus that's killed so many," Winfrey added. "I thought a lot during that time about the more than half million people in this country who lost their lives because of this virus, and what they had to endure."

"Afterwards, I felt like superwoman," she wrote.

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