When It Comes To Getting Vaccinated For COVID-19, Some Naysayers Have Turned Into Advocates
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- When it comes to the COVID-19 vaccine, everyone has their own reasons for getting the shot or holding out.
CBS2's Cindy Hsu recently spoke to a local youth mentor who finally got the vaccine after his friends hounded him for months.
"Honestly, I did not trust it. It came out too fast for my liking," Jarrell Hughes said.
Hughes is the director of after-school programming at the Bronx River Community Center. Even when vaccine drives came to his center, he wasn't ready.
"For me, as a man of color first of all, whenever there's something new that's going to be put in your body, you always have reservations about it," Hughes said.
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Hughes is also a basketball coach, and while he held off on getting the vaccine, he finally did it in late September.
When asked what changed his mind, Hughes said, "Two things. The vaccine, itself, finally got approved by the FDA, and then, secondly, the mandate. I'm not wealthy. That's not a decision that I can make very easily not to take it."
He posted video of himself getting the shot on social media, much to the relief of many of his friends, like Troy Brown, who had been trying to convince him for months.
"He said, 'I did it.' I said, 'You did what?' He said, 'I got the shot,'" Brown said.
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Brown was vaccinated early on, thanks to his doctor's persistence.
"She kept saying, 'Troy, did you get your shot?' 'No.' 'Did you get your shot? Troy, you're dealing with diabetes. Go get vaccinated.' I went, got vaccinated," Brown said. "Now, I became an advocate of the vaccination. I let the world know, it's time, come on!"
As for Hughes, he said, "I feel good about it. Just hope, again, hope long term everything works out for the best. Short term, I'm feeling good."
"Took a while, right?" Hsu asked.
"Yes, it did," Hughes said.
