With no side effects found, Brewton physicians said taking COVID-19 shot is best way to curb spread of virus
“You need to take it, no question about it”; ''150 percent, you need to take it”; “Most certainly”; were the responses Brewton physicians Jimmy Adkinson, Daniel Raulerson and Elizabeth Low said when asked if people should take the new COVID-19 vaccine.
Two of the three have already had the vaccine and Dr. Adkinson said he's waiting until his wife is eligible before he takes the shot.
“You need to take it,” Dr. Adkinson said. “No question about it.”
Adkinson said nobody he knows has had any complications since taking the vaccine.
The first wave of the vaccines is being made available to health care workers, first responders and the elderly. It will soon filter down and Dr. Adkinson said the vaccine will be free.
“This is a deadly virus,” Dr. Adkinson said. “Older people need to take it and everybody eventually needs to take it.”
He said Escambia County, Ala., had 30 new cases of COVID-19 this past Friday and Saturday.
“I'm all for it,” Dr. Adkinson said of the vaccine. “Until we get herd immunity, we need to take the vaccine. The other alternative is to let nature take care of it.”
Dr. Adkinson praised President Trump for fast-lining the vaccine, noting it will take years to see how effective the vaccine really is.
“Trump did an excellent job,” Dr. Adkinson said.
He also recommended people who have tested positive for COVID-19 to take the vaccine and said efforts to treat and possibly cure the virus once detected is in the works.
Dr. Raulerson said he recommends the vaccine at '150 percent' and said he and his wife, Dr. Marsha Raulerson, received their vaccine shots last Wednesday.
“It's a very safe vaccine,” Dr. Daniel Raulerson said. “There's no way to get the virus from it.”
He added that the research to find a vaccine for coronavirus has been in the works for years and the long-term effect of virus are still unknown.
He also said the long-term damage of children catching the virus is unknown.
“I have no misgivings,” Dr. Raulerson said. “I'll recommend taking the vaccine to all my patients and anybody who will listen.”
“Most certainly,” is how Dr. Low recommended people to take the COVID vaccine.
Dr. Low said her son Robbin participated in the Moderna trial in Orlando, where some 30,000 people were either given the vaccine or a placebo and he still doesn't know what dose he got, but has had no side effects.
She said she, Dr. Maria Vallarreall and Dr. Elizabeth Bataglia all took the vaccine in Bay Minette on Dec. 22 and are scheduled for their second dose on Jan. 12
She also said none of them have had side effects or any other problems.
“It's our best hope to get out of this thing,” Dr. Low said. “We are covered up at the hospital.”
All three doctors said taking the vaccine is the best route to take if an effort to not only protect themselves but others.
“We've all been the guinea pigs,” Dr. Low said. “But everything we know is that the vaccine is the best route to go.”
When and where the vaccine will be open to the general public is still in limbo but all of the doctors recommend taking the vaccine once it's made available.
