Did you get a COVID vaccine? Why some SLO County residents were eager and others are leery
For Mike and Maida Minadeo, whether or not to get the COVID-19 vaccine was a gut-wrenching dilemma.
“Maida and I have been working with the public for months and have been fine,” said Mike Minadeo, a service adviser at Sunset North Car Wash & Detail Center in Paso Robles. His wife has been a server and hostess at Linn’s Restaurant in Cambria for years.
So the longtime North Coast couple, who recently bought a home in Paso Robles, held off being vaccinated against coronavirus.
They were “waiting to see if the vaccines were safe,” Mike explained. “We postponed it. ...”
Then in October, Mike’s sister, Cindy, was diagnosed with COVID-19.
At first “she got better, then it caused her to have a stroke, and then she became ill with a (clostridium difficile) infection in her intestines,” Mike said of the condition that required surgery to prevent her death.
“After the surgery, she got sepsis,” an frequent coronavirus-related cause of death, he said.
Mike said his 70-year-old sister “passed away about a week later,” on April 3. Doctors defined her death as being caused by “complications because of COVID.”
With that family tragedy in mind, the Minadeos changed their stance on getting vaccinated now and got their doses of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine on April 10.
The next weekend, they went to Mike’s sister’s funeral.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put the J&J vaccine on pause for a time while they studied the cases of a handful of women who experienced severe blood clots after receiving the vaccine. But the federal agencies lifted the suspension on April 23, saying the benefits far outweigh the risks.
The Minadeos didn’t have any adverse reactions to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Mike said, adding that they “didn’t feel much more than a sore arm” from the shots.
SLO County residents talk about getting coronavirus vaccine
The debate raging around COVID-19 vaccinations has many facets — including personal choice, public health and politics.
Many people have jumped at the chance to get fully vaccinated against the novel coronavirus, celebrating their shots with hugs, tears and yells of joy. Others have hesitated to get shots, worried about possible side effects or the likelihood of getting the virus even after they’ve received shots.
But some people are opting out of the vaccination process entirely, citing a variety of reasons.
According to a New York Times article published on April 21, “With every American adult now eligible for a vaccine, health officials across the country say they are hitting a soft ceiling. More than half of the population has received at least one dose, and persuading the rest is going to take hard work.”
“If you think of this as a war, we’re about to enter the hand-to-hand combat phase of the war,” Michael Carney, senior vice president for emerging issues at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, told the Times.
To find out how San Luis Obispo County residents feel about COVID-19 vaccinations, I turned again to my trusty troop of friends, relatives and online buddies.
I asked them, “Are you fully COVID vaccinated? How does that make you feel? And if not, why not?”
In fairly short order, I got more than 60 enthusiastic thumbs-up reactions and four determined “no” votes.
I also got strong “not yet, we want to wait and see” opinions from some, including our youngest son, Sean, and his girlfriend, Jenny. As you can imagine, that triggered some lively discussions.
Retired Cambria businesswoman Kathy Unger said she and her husband, Bob, are not planning on getting a COVID-19 vaccine for the forseeable future. She said they are basing their decisions in part on information she got from “an alternative health site.”
“I do believe the virus exists,” Kathy said. “But I think the (case) numbers have been off from the beginning.”
“I am an extremely healthy person,” Kathy said, “and I certainly would never jeopardize that with an experimental medical procedure that has never been tested.” (Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson conducted extensive clinical trials and studies on their coronavirus vaccines before the FDA authorized them for emergency use.)
The Ungers are concerned about the vaccines’ safety and efficacy because “social distancing and masking of vaccinated people is still recommended and, in some instances, required,” she said. “So, until someone can tell us that these vaccines are entirely safe and effective, we will not have them.”
Those are sentiments echoed, at least in part, by Coast Union High School graduates Mike Briggs and Leona Darnell, and Hillary Stotter Fiedler of Los Angeles, whose link to the North Coast was through her parents, the late Jim and Holly Stotter.
Mike, Leona and Hillary each cited additional reasons for not being vaccinated.
Mike mentioned the vaccines’ efficacy rates and longevity and the “98.7% survival rate” of young and middle-aged adults.
Hillary said that, to her, the FDA emergency approval “means seniors, obese (people) and (people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease),” and she doesn’t feel humans should be used as guinea pigs.
“From what I understand, the shot ... only protects me from serious effects of COVID if I was to contract it. I don’t understand how this will eradicate it in any way,” Leona said.
“I am not a conservative or believe that it (the virus) is a hoax,” she added. “I know it’s real. I take precautions. I am not opposed to it (the vaccine). But no, I haven’t taken it.”
Their skepticism about the coronavirus vaccine was countered by the enthusiasm of those who have already received shots. Respondents described feeling “emotional,” “super jazzed” and “so darn good.”
For Lynn Diehl of Shell Beach, getting vaccinated was “a tremendous relief,” she said.
Janis Hudler of Cambria said she’s feeling “wonderful. It’s been a year of caution. … Now here I come, world!”
Former Cambria resident Ginger Bryant, who now lives in Bradley, said she’s excited to be “finally able to hug my kids and grand(kids).” And Kyle Evans of Big Sur said he “can finally be with other family that is vaccinated safely.”
“One of my best friends and I are fully vaccinated, and we hugged for the first time in over a year,” Cherie Gibson of Cayucos said. “It felt so good.”
Cal Poly professor Dan Eller said he’s “feeling like I have a chance to stay asymptomatic, but realized I can still contract COVID and pass it along … so I wear double masks and social distance, including staying out of public places.”
Jennifer Franco Smith of Cambria had an appointment to get “the only vax my doctors thought was safe for me,” due to some medical conditions. She was disappointed to put her “shot in arm” on hold.
Cambria resident Brian Griffin got his first vaccine, for small pox, as a small boy, followed by vaccinations for measles, then polio, he said.
“In the service, I got cholera vaccine and tetanus, then as an adult I have been getting flu vaccines for about 25 years. I also got vaccines to protect from hepatitis B,” Griffin said. “At the (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospital), I got vaccine to protect from DPT (diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus). Now I have gotten two vaccinations to protect me from COVID.
“I never got any of these diseases and never had a bad reaction to vaccinations and I am glad I have gotten them. I will be glad when we have herd immunity for COVID worldwide.”
How to schedule a COVID-19 vaccine appointment
As of Monday, the San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department is administering coronavirus vaccines to everyone age 16 and up.
Those eligible to receive their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine can register online or by phone for California’s My Turn appointment system.
To find appointments, visit MyTurn.ca.gov and complete the registration process. Those who need assistance registering for a vaccine can call 833-422-4255 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday through Sunday.
To sign up for email alerts, visit EmergencySLO.org/en/newsletter.aspx.
In addition to the state’s My Turn system, residents can find appointments for coronavirus vaccines through private health partners and some chain pharmacies, including CVS and Vons.
