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Two of her adult children received the COVID vaccine. Her fiancé too.
But Newark’s Gata Negrra wasn’t ready to go.
From the time the COVID vaccinations were rolled out in December 2020, Negrra was hesitant. She kept hearing conflicting information about the vaccine’s safety, effectiveness, and even its possible consequences for fertility.
“Everything seemed so fast,” she said. “It seemed like they were trying to rush to find a solution to the problem and usually when people rush things they aren’t always thorough.”
So, while millions of New Jerseyans struggled to find an appointment for a vaccine last spring, Negrra was in no rush. She was happy to wait.
“I just wanted to be sure of the side effects,” she said. “I wanted to see what happened when people started taking these things. Then it seemed like more people were taking it.
It took a long time – and family members who repeatedly urged her to get the shot – but Negrra finally gave in at the end of last month.
“I actually changed my mind,” she said.
Many vaccine skeptics remain steadfast, even as communities across the country are seeing cases increase due to the Delta variant, and public health officials have urged unvaccinated people to receive their doses. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), all states – including New Jersey, which has one of the highest vaccination rates in the country – have seen the number of vaccines increase in the past four weeks. .
Negrra said people around her have a running joke that this is how the zombie apocalypse will begin. Although she didn’t take it seriously, enough people on social media have been spreading rumors that the virus and vaccine mirrored the fictional film “I’m a Legend,” starring Will Smith, in which a Measles vaccine turned people into flesh-eating monsters.
The gossip was widespread enough that one of the film’s writers, Akiva Goldsman, tweeted, “Oh. My. God. It’s a film. I made it up. His. Not. Real.”
Other than zombies, Negrra, a mother of three, said she was not sure what to make of the speculative stories she had seen about pregnant women who had miscarried or could not conceive after being vaccinated. .
On the day she spoke to NJ Advance Media, the CDC, citing safety data, said pregnant women had no increased risk of miscarriage if vaccinated against the coronavirus. He is now urging pregnant women to get vaccinated, as is the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Even though she was hesitant, everyone in her family has been vaccinated except for her youngest child, who won’t be eligible until next month. Her family continued to try to “educate” her about the different vaccines and their benefits, she said.
She said her vaccinated 70-year-old mother worked to change her perspective.
“She was worried about me,” Negrra said. “She was talking about the Delta variant – I was like ‘Delta? And now?’ – and I did all the research. I thought this was getting really serious now, not that it wasn’t before, but what if they have a variant that you can catch with how fast chickenpox is? I was like, hell no.
His work is also taken into account. Negrra, who performs in comic-cons and anime-cons, was mostly unemployed from the start of the pandemic until spring 2021. But this summer she started having job opportunities again.
“It seemed that with events like this it would be safe to get the vaccine,” she said. “You meet a lot of people and a mask doesn’t always guarantee that I can protect myself, my family, and the people I may meet.”
But she still wasn’t convinced.
Then, at the end of July, Negrra heard the story of a couple, parents of five children, from Las Vegas.
“They were just as careful about the vaccine as I was. They were waiting to see what would happen, ”she said. “Then the husband contracted it. They had five children. He was hit overnight.
The father, shortly before his death, texted: “I should have been vaccinated,” family members said.
“I said I think I better go ahead and do it,” she said. “Really, I wasn’t sure about fertility issues, but it felt like I needed to think about the lives around me now and not the ones I could potentially have. These people are here now and it seemed like it was more important to protect those I live with.
Negrra said she wasn’t sure what to expect from her first dose of Pfizer vaccine, but she stuck to her appointment anyway.
“I thought I was going to have a fever, but my arm ached at the injection site. Sometimes it was hard to lift, but only maybe for a day or two, ”said Negrra.
His second hit is slated for later this month.
She said she hopes her story will help other people decide to get vaccinated.
“I would strongly encourage them to get the vaccine, but if they’re still skeptical, they should do their research on the many choices and how people are doing, and at least make an informed decision, especially if they have. children or an occupation that requires them to be around children constantly, ”she said, noting that there is a lot of misinformation out there.
“There are so many uninformed people saying things on either side of the argument who just spread what they read on Facebook without doing any research,” she said. “They should remember to use reputable news services and not to rely on hearsay on social media, unless it is through the social media of said reputable websites.”
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Karin Price Mueller can be contacted at [email protected].
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