I had a baby in 2020, so [there was] no vaccine. All I’m hearing is, ‘there’s this thing out here, you can get sick and die, and you’re pregnant? High risk!’. I’m a black woman so I’m high risk anyway…this is not funny. So, the new vaccine came out…and I don’t know about anybody else but for me and my household, we are going to be protected. I have two kids under the age of five. The home visitor, going in and out of other people’s homes, regardless of whether they chose to vaccinate or not? I’m going to make sure I’m safe.

I got vaccinated. My baby did not get COVID until after we stopped breast feeding. I don’t know if that’s because of the vaccine but I tell people that because it makes sense to me.

For me, I have heard so much crazy stuff, but I am a scientific-type person, but one thing that really touched my heart was how many Black and brown people was dying of COVID. And so, for me, it was not even debatable. I’m going to do everything I can to be sure that I have an advantage…so that we’re not dying when we could take a vaccine that would help us not die. And I’ll be honest, I hate vaccines, because when I had the chickenpox vaccine as a little girl, I reacted so bad to that that I had crazy hallucinations. So, I hadn’t really had any type of medical doctor treatment for over 20 years, but I did not play around with the COVID because I believe that we have to empower ourselves with facts and knowledge and doing what we can to give us the edge. I’ll talk to anybody, and I’ll always tell them, ‘I’m not taking any chances with me and mine.’ And so, you know, it’s everybody’s choice, but for me, I’m not playing.

We have data that shows that vaccinations do save lives. I support anyone who doesn’t want to get vaccinated because that is your personal choice but I do think that having information to support why vaccinations are important…you know the COVID-19 vaccination does save lives, I’ve seen it. It does decrease the spread of the disease.

I trust God, but I have to trust him that he put the vaccination out there. When I got it [the booster] on the 4th of July it wasn’t bad.

I have a little bit of a bias because I work for a public health agency, so I see it as ‘I’m doing my part to reduce the spread of a contagion that I know that I could have and could potentially spread whether intentionally or unintentionally, so for me, it’s about behavior. We know our behaviors - if you work in an industry that you’re not afforded the opportunity for sick leave, or PTO, or things like that, then for me, vaccinations are a way to at least protect yourself.

I follow the vaccine schedule because its been part of my medical history. I enlisted in the Air Force in 1986 and you always had to get a Flu vaccine, so I’ve always gotten the Flu vaccine and I’ve never gotten the flu. With COVID, we have family members that are high risk, my wife’s grandmother is 92 years old, my mother-in-law is 78, and I have family members that are older, and they have medical conditions and so, out of respect to them. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I did not take the vaccine and heaven forbid I be involved in getting them infected. I do it not just for myself, but for my family members.