Mandates
have
prompted
a surge
in
vaccinations
among
those
who had
held
out.
Some
report
feeling
relief;
others,
anguish
and
resentment.
(ShutterStock
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Xibelli
Valdespino,
who had
worried
about
side
effects,
with her
son
after
getting
vaccinated
in the
Bronx.
(Credit...James
Estrin/The
New York
Times) |
|
They
Resisted
Vaccines.
Here's
Why They
Changed
Their
Minds
By
Joseph
Goldstein
nytimes.com
NEW YORK
-
Mandates
have
prompted
a surge
in
vaccinations
among
those
who had
held
out.
Some
report
feeling
relief;
others,
anguish
and
resentment.
In the
Bronx, a
youth
counselor
closed
his eyes
and
steeled
himself
for the
shot. In
Queens,
a nurse
calmed
herself
by
humming
gospel
music.
In
Manhattan,
a
graduate
student
asked
one last
question
about
fertility
while
reviewing
the
consent
form.
With a
mixture
of
nervousness,
resentment
and,
sometimes
relief,
hundreds
of
thousands
of New
Yorkers
finally
got a
dose of
coronavirus
vaccine
in
recent
weeks.
In some
cases,
it was
because
they had
a change
of
heart;
perhaps
more
commonly,
it was
to keep
their
jobs.
The
uptick
in
vaccinations
has
contributed,
experts
say, to
a
flattening
of the
virus
curve in
New York
City,
where
the
numbers
of new
infections
and
hospitalizations
have
been
falling
— a
trend
across
the
United
States
as well.
Yet with
winter
approaching,
public
health
experts
are
watching
closely
for yet
another
rise in
infections.
New
York’s
vaccination
rate is
higher
than
that of
the
country
as a
whole,
with two
out of
every
three
residents
fully
inoculated.
Still,
about
one
million
adult
New
Yorkers
have not
gotten
at least
one
vaccine
dose.
In
recent
months,
the
vaccination
rates
among
Black
and
Hispanic
New
Yorkers,
which
had
lagged
behind
those of
white
and
Asian
residents,
has
climbed.
But
Black
residents
18 to 44
remain
far less
likely
to be
vaccinated
than
adults
in other
groups.
The New
York
Times
interviewed
10 New
Yorkers
who only
recently
got
vaccinated
to find
out why
they
waited
so long.
Many
cited
employer
mandates
as a
major
factor.
A number
of large
companies
have
required
employees
to get
vaccinated,
and in
the past
three
weeks,
New York
State
has
demanded
it of
all
health
care
workers.
New York
City has
forced
teachers
do the
same,
while
requiring
all
other
municipal
employees
to get
vaccinated
or
undergo
regular
virus
testing.
Some of
the
newly
vaccinated
New
Yorkers
said the
mandates
were
coercive
and had
left
them
upset
and even
more
distrustful
of
government.
Others
said
they got
vaccinated
in
solidarity
with
relatives
who were
doing
so, or
because
a recent
bout
with
Covid-19
had made
them
feel
vulnerable.
Some
said
they
were
glad to
get it
over
with.
“I would
go to
church
with my
kids,
and I
would
hear
someone
cough
and I
would
startle,”
said
Cilotte
Lovinsky,
a
hospice
nurse,
who was
vaccinated
in
September.
“Now I
feel
comfortable.”
Here are
five of
their
stories:
The home
health
aide
Tiffany
Fields,
35
Credit...James
Estrin/The
New York
Times
In the
deadly
virus
wave of
early
2020,
Tiffany
Fields,
a home
health
aide,
visited
her
clients
wearing
a
garbage
bag
around
her body
and
plastic
bags
over her
shoes
because
she
could
not find
protective
gear at
stores.
She was
that
worried
about
getting
sick.
Yet when
vaccines
became
available,
she was
not
interested.
“Listening
to the
government
was the
last
thing on
my
mind,”
Ms.
Fields,
a
delegate
for
Local
1199 of
the
Service
Employees
International
Union,
said.
Skeptical
of the
flu
vaccine
as well,
she
assumed
that the
development
of
coronavirus
vaccines
had been
rushed
and that
it was
too soon
to know
if they
were
safe.
“I
didn’t
know if
they
were
testing
all the
poor
people
before
they
gave it
to the
rich
people,”
she
said,
adding
that as
a Black
woman
she had
particular
concerns
about
the
vaccines,
given
the
history
of
medical
experimentation
on Black
Americans.
As time
passed,
she
began to
wonder
whether
she was
making a
mistake.
“What if
they run
out of
the
vaccine
and they
say you
had your
chance
to take
it?”
Last
month,
she
tested
positive
for the
virus.
Despite
feeling
fine,
she
spent
days
sitting
in her
darkened
bedroom,
waiting
for the
worst.
She
began to
draft a
letter
to her
landlord
asking
that her
boyfriend
be
allowed
to
continue
living
in her
apartment
should
she die.
When she
emerged
from
isolation,
her
attitude
toward
the
vaccine
had
changed.
It was
time to
get the
shot.
“You can
hear
about
the
boogeyman
all day
along,”
she
said.
“Then
one day
he shows
up.”
The
nonprofit
executive
Emely
Paez, 33
Credit...James
Estrin/The
New York
Times
Emely
Paez
said
some of
her
relatives
had
likened
Covid-19
to a bad
flu that
could be
overcome
with
rest and
herbal
tea.
They
also had
worries
about
the new
vaccines.
“The
feeling
was that
you’d be
some
sort of
guinea
pig in
this
experiment,”
she
said,
noting
that
such
views
had
influenced
her at
first.
Ms. Paez
gave
birth to
a son in
September
2020 and
she
feared
that
vaccinating
herself
might
harm him
through
her
breast
milk.
The
worry is
common
among
many
nursing
mothers,
although
researchers
have
found
the
opposite
to be
true:
Milk
from
vaccinated
mothers
often
contains
antibodies
that may
provide
protection
to
infants.
“It was
the ‘We
don’t
know,’”
Ms. Paez
said.
“This is
a new
vaccine,
and I’m
putting
this in
my body
and
passing
it on to
my
little
one. How
is he
going to
react?”
Her
doctor
reassured
her that
she had
nothing
to worry
about.
“If
anything,
you are
giving
the baby
antibodies
he
needs,”
she
recalled
being
told.
For much
of last
year,
she and
her
family
were
cloistered
at home
with the
newborn.
Her
older
daughter
was
attending
elementary
school
remotely.
But Ms.
Paez
realized
over
this
past
summer
that not
getting
vaccinated
created
difficulties.
There
was what
she
called
the
“frustrating”
weekly
testing
requirement
established
by the
Hispanic
Federation,
an
umbrella
organization
of
nonprofit
agencies
where
she is
the
director
of
government
affairs
and
civic
engagement.
Her
partner
also was
not
vaccinated,
causing
him to
miss out
on work
opportunities.
On a
visit to
the
Bronx
Zoo in
August,
Ms. Paez
realized
that
unvaccinated
adults
would
soon be
barred
from
indoor
exhibits
there.
That
would
mean no
more
Congo
Gorilla
Forest.
“We love
those
gorillas,”
she
said.
As
summer
turned
to fall,
she and
her
partner
concluded
it was
time to
get
vaccinated.
“I
didn’t
want to
continue
to have
these
roadblocks
in the
things
we do,”
she
said.
Her
partner
went
first.
On Oct.
1, she
walked
into a
Rite Aid
for a
first
dose of
the
Pfizer-BioNTech
vaccine.
The ICU
nurse
Mechelle
Webb, 52
Credit...James
Estrin/The
New York
Times
In
spring
2020,
Mechelle
Webb, a
critical
care
nurse at
Jamaica
Hospital
in
Queens,
cared
for the
sickest
Covid-19
patients,
many of
them on
ventilators.
She
cleared
their
breathing
tubes,
checked
their IV
lines,
turned
them in
their
beds and
spoke
reassuringly
to those
who
could
not
respond.
Yet she
did not
get
sick. As
time
passed,
she grew
less
afraid
of
Covid-19.
She
trusted
her N95
mask to
keep her
safe.
She did
not get
vaccinated
when she
first
had the
chance.
She has
severe
allergies
and was
worried
about
how her
body
would
react,
even
though
severe
allergic
reactions
to the
vaccines
are
rare.
And if
wearing
a mask
worked,
why get
a
vaccine?
She
noticed
that
patients
at the
hospital
who were
vaccinated
tended
to fare
better
than
those
who were
not.
Still,
she was
unconvinced.
Then the
state
announced
its
mandate
for
hospital
workers
in
mid-August.
Ms.
Webb, a
nurse
for 34
years,
did not
appreciate
the
pressure.
She
wanted
to reach
this
decision
on her
own.
“The
mandate
should
not be
the
first
reason I
took
it,” she
said.
What to
Know
About
Covid-19
Booster
Shots
The
F.D.A.
authorized
booster
shots
for a
select
group of
people
who
received
their
second
doses of
the
Pfizer-BioNTech
vaccine
at least
six
months
before.
That
group
includes:
vaccine
recipients
who are
65 or
older or
who live
in
long-term
care
facilities;
adults
who are
at high
risk of
severe
Covid-19
because
of an
underlying
medical
condition;
health
care
workers
and
others
whose
jobs put
them at
risk.
People
with
weakened
immune
systems
are
eligible
for a
third
dose of
either
Pfizer
or
Moderna
four
weeks
after
the
second
shot.
The
C.D.C.
has said
the
conditions
that
qualify
a person
for a
booster
shot
include:
hypertension
and
heart
disease;
diabetes
or
obesity;
cancer
or blood
disorders;
weakened
immune
system;
chronic
lung,
kidney
or liver
disease;
dementia
and
certain
disabilities.
Pregnant
women
and
current
and
former
smokers
are also
eligible.
The
F.D.A.
authorized
boosters
for
workers
whose
jobs put
them at
high
risk of
exposure
to
potentially
infectious
people.
The
C.D.C.
says
that
group
includes:
emergency
medical
workers;
education
workers;
food and
agriculture
workers;
manufacturing
workers;
corrections
workers;
U.S.
Postal
Service
workers;
public
transit
workers;
grocery
store
workers.
It is
not
recommended.
For now,
Pfizer
vaccine
recipients
are
advised
to get a
Pfizer
booster
shot,
and
Moderna
and
Johnson
&
Johnson
recipients
should
wait
until
booster
doses
from
those
manufacturers
are
approved.
Yes. The
C.D.C.
says the
Covid
vaccine
may be
administered
without
regard
to the
timing
of other
vaccines,
and many
pharmacy
sites
are
allowing
people
to
schedule
a flu
shot at
the same
time as
a
booster
dose.
But by
Aug. 23,
after
much
prayer,
she felt
ready.
As she
sat in
the
chair
waiting
for her
shot,
she
began to
sing the
words of
a gospel
song:
“I’m no
longer a
slave to
fear.”
The
youth
mentor
Jarrell
Hughes,
34
Credit...James
Estrin/The
New York
Times
Jarrell
Hughes
woke up
on Sept.
23 and
turned
on the
local
news.
That was
how he
learned
the
vaccine
mandate
for
educators
in the
city’s
public
school
system
had been
upheld
in
court.
For Mr.
Hughes,
who
leads
after-school
programming
at a
community
center,
coaches
basketball
and
works as
a
referee,
that
settled
the
matter.
Until
then, he
had
resisted
getting
vaccinated.
Some of
his
reluctance
stemmed
from
having
grown up
in a
Nation
of Islam
household,
he said,
noting
the
group’s
anti-vaccine
rhetoric.
But he
had also
worked
through
the
deadly
surge in
spring
2020
without
getting
sick. He
figured
the
precautions
he was
taking —
surgical
mask,
intermittent
testing,
avoiding
public
transportation
— were
working.
And why,
he
wondered,
should
he get a
vaccine
designed
against
an
earlier
strain
of a
virus
that was
constantly
changing?
(Experts
say the
existing
vaccines
provide
strong
protection
against
even the
highly
contagious
Delta
variant.)
The
community
center
where he
works is
in the
middle
of the
Bronx
River
Houses,
a public
housing
complex.
Friends
and
colleagues
began
lobbying
him to
get
vaccinated,
and kept
at it
for six
months.
“When we
getting
that
shot?” a
local
community
organizer
would
ask.
“Trust
science,”
Mr.
Hughes
would
shoot
back at
those
who were
prodding
him,
explaining
that
waiting
would
yield
more
data.
Then he
learned
he was
subject
to a
mandate:
City
Hall had
decided
that
staff at
some
after-school
programs
should
be
vaccinated
along
with
public
school
employees.
Mr.
Hughes
briefly
pondered
quitting.
“I don’t
have a
boatload
of
money,”
he said.
“If I
did, I
could
outlast
this.
But I
have to
earn a
buck.”
On his
way to
work on
Sept.
23, he
ducked
inside a
mobile
vaccine
clinic
and got
a dose
of the
Moderna
vaccine.
“I
fought a
long and
hard
fight,”
he said.
“It was
taken
out of
my hands
with the
mandate.”
He told
friends
that he
had
gotten
vaccinated,
even
sending
around a
video of
the
moment,
knowing
it might
encourage
other
holdouts.
But he
has not
made
peace
with
what
happened.
“I’m not
OK with
it to be
honest
with
you,” he
said
recently.
The case
worker
Xibelli
Valdespino,
25
Credit...James
Estrin/The
New York
Times
Last
December,
four
generations
of
Xibelli
Valdespino’s
family,
from her
7-year-old
son to
her
86-year-old
grandfather,
gathered
for
Christmas
Eve.
Within a
day,
they
began
testing
positive
for
Covid-19.
Her
grandfather
soon
died,
and her
mother
struggled
to
breathe.
Ms.
Valdespino
felt so
ill she
wondered
whether
she
would
ever
recover.
For a
long
time
after,
she was
angry:
at God,
at the
pandemic,
at
herself.
“Maybe
if I had
taken
this
more
seriously
and we
had not
all
gathered
together
for
Christmas,
maybe my
grandfather
would be
here,”
said Ms.
Valdespino,
a case
worker
whose
clients
are
people
with
mental
illness.
Yet her
initial
response
was to
reject
the
vaccine.
She
worried
about
side
effects.
She had
also
encountered
strange
and
untrue
conspiracy
theories
on
social
media
and was
unable
to
dismiss
them.
The
vaccines
magnetized
people,
causing
spoons
to stick
to your
body,
according
to one.
The
vaccines
lowered
the
quality
of your
blood,
according
to
another.
(While a
small
number
of
recipients
have
developed
rare
blood
disorders
or blood
clots in
the
brain,
experts
say, the
vaccines
are safe
for the
overwhelming
majority
of
people.)
“Things
like
that you
hear
every
day and
you just
start
getting
scared,”
Ms.
Valdespino
said.
But she
also saw
that
people
everywhere
were
getting
vaccinated
without
turning
ill. And
the
pandemic
was not
simply
going
away.
One
variant
appeared
after
another.
She
began to
think
about
getting
vaccinated
as less
of a
personal
decision,
and more
as a
communal
project.
“We all
have to
do this
all
together,”
she
said.
“So we
can see
another
day and
move
forward
with our
lives.”
At work,
Ms.
Valdespino
saw just
how
isolated
many of
her
clients
had
become
during
the
pandemic.
Last
week,
one of
them, a
former
teacher,
seemed
overwhelmed
with
gratitude
when Ms.
Valdespino,
one of
the
woman’s
few
connections
to the
outside
world,
came to
see her.
Ms.
Valdespino
kept
replaying
the
visit in
her
mind.
Until
more
people
were
vaccinated,
she
realized,
far too
many
people
would
remain
cut off.
“We’re
only
going to
keep
suffering
if we
don’t
all get
on the
same
page,”
she
said.
On
Tuesday,
she
walked
into a
CVS in
the
Bronx
and got
a shot.
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