Sources: MSN.com; News 12 New Jersey
Maritza Beniquez has had a front-row seat to the devastation the coronavirus pandemic has wrought on communities of color in New Jersey, so she jumped at the chance to take the vaccine that is being hailed as a turning point in a long and grueling battle against the deadly virus.
Beniquez said she “barely felt” the needle go in and had experienced no side effects. All vaccine recipients will get a second shot a few weeks after the first.
Health care workers with direct or indirect exposure to COVID-19 patients are first in line for the vaccine, along with long-term care residents and staff. Murphy estimated it will be April or May before the general public will be able to get the vaccine.
Five other acute care hospitals in New Jersey were to begin administering the Pfizer vaccine Tuesday, and 47 additional hospitals were expected to be added by the end of the week, Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli said.
Many people remain nervous about potential side effects as pharmaceutical companies around the world develop COVID-19 vaccines. A recent Rutgers-Eagleton poll says between 36% and 47% of people questioned say they will not get the vaccine.
Dr. Perry Halkitis,dean of Rutgers School of Public Health, says that if the pandemic is to end, and the old way of life is to resume, the public-at-large must take the
According to experts, the COVID-19 vaccine’s side effects are relatively mild. People who’ve taken part in the trials say they’ve dealt with headaches, fatigue and muscle aches for a day and then they are gone.
Dr. Halkitis says if it is to work, there has to also be an education component about the vaccine and constant communication to remind people to get their shots.
Leaders need to engender trust and communication to get doubters to believe in this vaccine: A recent Rutgers-Eagleton poll says between 36% and 47% of people questioned say they will not get the vaccine.
He adds that if it is to work, there has to also be an education component about the vaccine and constant communication to remind people to get their shots. Dr. Halkitis says leaders need to engender trust and communication to get doubters to believe in this vaccine.
“I am hoping that we are going to have some high-profile figures, and then some people from within our communities saying I took the vaccine,” says Dr. Halkitis.
“I’m happy that in another month and a half, I won’t have to be afraid to go into a room anymore. I won’t have to be afraid to perform chest compressions or be present when they’re intubating a patient,” Beniquez said. “I don’t want to be afraid anymore, and I don’t want to have that risk of taking it home to my own family and my own friends.”