HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Mariano Villanueva, 73, and his wife Naida, 70, put off their Covid-19 vaccination for three months, over fears of possible side effects and reactions to the vaccine.
“We saw news of serious side effects and even deaths so we didn’t do it before. We were scared and we doubted the vaccine. We wanted to see first the effects on other people here,” said Naida Villanueva, who works as a bakery cashier in Dededo.
For their age bracket, the vaccine was first offered in early January but it was only in late April when they said they were convinced the vaccine would do more good than harm to them, the wife said.
“Now most of our co-workers including our employers are fully vaccinated and they’re okay,” Naida Villanueva said Tuesday, when she and her husband came in for their second dose of the Moderna vaccine, at the University of Guam Calvo Field House.
For law enforcement officer Nixon Ludwig, 56, it wasn’t hesitation about the efficacy of the vaccine that made him wait for months to get vaccinated. He first wanted to make sure his family could get their shot as well.
“I waited for my family to get vaccinated, too,” said Ludwig, a Department of Corrections officer, as he and three of his four children, as well as his brother-in-law, got their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Tuesday.
His children Javan, 14; Nathaniel “Tano,” 17; and Neesha, 19, said they’re looking forward to a new school year with in-person learning, so they wanted to get vaccinated.
Ludwig said his 24-year-old child already got vaccinated ahead of them, and his wife will soon get hers.
The corrections officer said he hopes more families get their vaccination so they can have another layer of protection against the virus.
“I believe this will help the community. If we get more vaccinated, the better for all of us,” he said.
More than 30,000 individuals still need to be fully vaccinated for Guam to achieve Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero’s goal of 80% herd immunity by July 21. That herd immunity is when at least 109,081 eligible individuals are already fully vaccinated, officials said.
More than 78,000 individuals have so far been vaccinated so far this week.
Initially hesitant
Katrina Lupera, 17, said she was hesitant at first to get vaccinated out of concerns over side effects but she’s since learned more about its benefits. Now that she’s taking nursing at Guam Community College, she said getting the vaccine is a reassurance that she will be better protected against the virus.
With Lupera on Tuesday was her sister Keana, 20, who also got her first Pfizer dose. Their mother, who got fully vaccinated with the Moderna vaccine several weeks ago, said she let her children decide whether they wanted to get vaccinated.
Jenny Howard, 46, was hopeful about the vaccine, so she didn’t hesitate to get her first dose in March and her second in April.
But when the vaccination opened to children as young as 12, the mother said she initially wanted to wait a few more weeks to see whether other children would have any adverse reaction to the vaccine.
“But my daughter said she wanted to take it now and my husband also thinks it’s best for her to get the vaccine now,” the mother said.
The daughter said she’d feel safer getting the vaccine, especially with the coming school year.
Department of Corrections Officer Nixon Ludwig, 56, second from right, is pictured with his three children and brother-in-law after getting their first dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine on Tuesday, May 25, at the University of Guam Calvo Field House.
Photo by Haidee Eugenio Gilbert/The Guam Daily Post
