These GA first responders are eligible for COVID vaccine. About half are opting out
While police, firefighters and other emergency workers have in recent days become eligible for COVID-19 vaccines, some in Middle Georgia have at least early on been reluctant to get the shots.
“It’s an uphill battle with some of them, but some of them have been beating down the door to go get (the vaccine),” said Christopher Stoner, director of the Houston County Emergency Management Agency who is also chief of the county fire department.
“So it’s a very mixed group as far as their feelings on it,” Stoner went on. “But it has been running very, very well at the health department as far as getting people ... vaccinated.”
Stoner estimated that among the firefighters he oversees, getting the vaccine has “been kind of 50-50.”
“Of course, we’re encouraging them to get it,” he said. “But if they’re adamant against it, they’re not being penalized.”
North of Macon in Jones County, Sheriff Butch Reece said that of the 90 or so staff members his department employs, only about 30 took the vaccine when it was offered earlier this week.
Should I get the shot?
Reluctance to receive the vaccine among those who have been designated as some of the first eligible to get it isn’t necessarily surprising.
Dr. Jennifer Hoffman, an associate professor of infectious disease at Mercer University who practices mainly at Coliseum Medical Centers in Macon, said she is often approached by people who want to know whether she thinks they should get the shot.
Yes, she tells them.
“Absolutely. I ran out and got mine the first day it became available to me. ... I can’t wait to get my parents and my kids vaccinated,” Hoffman said.
Weighing the risks
Some folks may be wary, however, in large part because the vaccine is so new.
“It hasn’t been around for a very long time,” Hoffman said. “It only got started getting tested last summer and people are saying, ‘Well, what are the long-term effects going to be?’”
She said that common vaccine side effects usually present themselves within a month or two and that patients in early trials have now been being monitored for more than six months.
Hoffman understands that some people might prefer a wait-and-see approach.
“But the thing is,” she said, “we’re in the middle of a pandemic. I think you really have to weigh the risk of getting COVID and potentially getting very seriously ill or even dying versus a potential small risk of some kind of unusual long-term side effect from the vaccine.”
The opinions of those who are wary of the available vaccines, Hoffman added, may change when their friends and neighbors start getting vaccinated “and nothing bad comes of it.”
‘I’ve got confidence in it’
Reece, the Jones County sheriff, was glad to get the shot.
“Small needle, it didn’t hurt,” he said. “I’ve got confidence in it. I was glad to get mine and can’t wait to get the second shot in February.”
He thinks vaccine naysayers and conspiracy theorists are misinformed.
“I don’t think it’s a government plot,” Reece said. “(The vaccine) is gonna save lives, I honestly believe it. I believe it’s safe. We’re out mixing with the general public every day ... and it spreads like that. I’m glad to take it.”
This story was originally published January 15, 2021 at 11:45 AM.