Ventura County residents want to take COVID-19 vaccines in works, but maybe not right away

Mike Harris
Ventura County Star

Jose Escobedo, a firefighter from Ventura, will take a wait-and-see approach once, as expected, one or more of the coronavirus vaccines on the horizon becomes available to the public in coming months.

"Like anything, you want data to show what it is," Escobedo, 41, said last week as he walked with his two young children on a portion of Main Street in Ventura that is closed to cars so businesses there ravaged by COVID-19 restrictions can expand operations outside.

"If the data shows that it's safe, then it's safe" and he would then consider taking the vaccine, said Escobedo, a firefighter and paramedic with the Glendale Fire Department. "If the data shows that it's not, then it's not."

So, Escobedo said, he'll have a "wait and see" attitude if a COVID-19 vaccine is indeed approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration for use by the public in the next few months.

Ventura County residents say they want to take Pfizer's and Moderna's new COVID-19 vaccines when they become available in coming months, but maybe not right away.

Manhattan-based drug maker Pfizer and Massachusetts-based biotechnology company Moderna both announced high effectiveness rates for their respective COVID-19 candidate vaccines earlier this month, and their intention to get them approved by the FDA as soon as possible.

A third company, England-based AstraZeneca, announced Monday that late-stage trials showed its candidate coronavirus vaccine also has a high effectiveness rate.

The timely announcements came as the deadly virus surges throughout most of the country at a record pace.

Other Ventura County residents interviewed by the Star said they too would wait to get a coronavirus vaccine.

But some said they would get it as soon as they could.

"I wouldn't delay taking it because I think it's very dangerous if someone gets the virus," said Deborah Harris, 60, of Camarillo, as she exited the Camarillo post office.

COVID-19 COVERAGE:

The insurance broker said she was "really impressed" when she learned of Pfizer's Nov. 9 announcement that its vaccine, developed with partner BioNTech, may be 90% effective, based on early and incomplete test results.

"It means that someone is working behind the scenes and taking charge," said Harris, noting she's been tested for COVID-19 with negative results.

Pfizer and BioNTech on Friday said they will submit a request to the FDA that day for emergency use authorization for their vaccine, which the companies now say is 95% effective.

Moderna, meanwhile, announced Nov. 16 that its vaccine, developed in collaboration with the U.S. government, appeared to be 94.5% effective. 

The company said it's working closely with the FDA to submit data from its ongoing testing for approval.

AstraZeneca said Monday it will immediately apply for early approval of its vaccine, which the pharmaceutical company announced was up to 90% effective, and will seek an emergency use listing from the World Health Organization.

Polls taken prior to the three companies' announcements showed that sizable numbers of Americans say they don't plan on ever taking a COVID-19 vaccine.

A USA Today/Suffolk poll released in September found that two-thirds of U.S. voters say they won't try to get a coronavirus vaccine as soon as it becomes available, while 1 in 4 say they don't ever plan to get it.

Judy Bruce of Simi Valley falls into the latter category.

"I'll take it over my dead body," said Bruce, who doesn't think the coronavirus pandemic is real – a "scamdemic," as she puts it.

"It's not a vaccine," Bruce said. "It's a lethal injection.

"It's going to cause dead bodies, but not right away. It's going to take years because they don't want it to link back to the vaccine," she said.

Though many health officials say wearing masks can help stop the spread of the virus, Bruce refuses to do so, including last month inside the Valley Marketplace in Simi Valley.

A video, in which Bruce can be seen explaining to a store employee about why she believes she can't be required to wear a mask, has been posted on YouTube.

Like Escobedo, Joanna Wied, of Thousand Oaks, said she too would probably wait to take a COVID-19 vaccine.

"Like three to four months to see how everything is going with it," said Wied, 68, a retired teacher, outside the Thousand Oaks post office. "But my plan is to go to my general practitioner and ask her what she thinks.

"I tend to react to things," she said, such as the last time she got a flu vaccine back in 1993 or 1994. "I got so sick I thought I was going to die."

Wied said she hasn't been tested for COVID-19, but believes she got it earlier this year from her stepdaughter.

"The symptoms were all there, and it was not nice," she said.

Brenda Orozco, of Oxnard, said she'll likely be among the first to get a coronavirus vaccine.

That's because healthcare workers such as herself–- she's a medical assistant at an Oxnard physician's office – have been designated as the top priority group to receive it.

"And especially with geriatric patients, you have to be more careful," said Orozco, noting she's been tested for the virus with negative results.

"Hopefully, the vaccine is effective," she said, walking on Main Street in Ventura to a hair appointment. "That way everyone can somewhat go back to normal."

Matthew McHendry, of Thousand Oaks, also said he wouldn't wait to take a COVID-19 vaccine.

"Yeah, I'd give it a shot," he said. "Why not?

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"I take care of my elderly parents, so it's important for me to stay COVID free," he said.

McHendry, who works in the cannabis industry after 20 years in law enforcement, said he too has been tested for the virus with negative results.

Antonio Papic, 69, of Camarillo, an automobile appraiser, said he also would take a coronavirus vaccine as soon as possible.

"Because the benefits by far, in my opinion, outweigh the side effects it may have," he said.

"I was very happy when I heard the news about the vaccine," Papic said.

USA Today and the Associated Press contributed to this story.

Mike Harris covers the cities of Moorpark, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks and Ventura, as well as transportation countywide. You can contact him at mike.harris@vcstar.com or 805-437-0323.

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