Mar 19, 2021
‘This is life and death’
How a self-proclaimed ‘exhibit A of vaccine hesitancy’ decided to get the shot
Richard Taylor has never liked the idea of vaccines.
“My lens is coming from a person who has not had any vaccines other than what’s absolutely required,“ said the president of Nubian Square Development Corp. LLC, who is a Suffolk University professor and serves as director of Suffolk’s Center for Real Estate. “I am exhibit A of vaccine hesitancy.”
But when he and his wife Kathy had the opportunity to receive the COVID-19 vaccine as part of the Dimock Center’s vaccination outreach program, Taylor thought long and hard and decided to participate.
“For me, the risk and reward calculus is very different with COVID,” Taylor said. “This is a life and death matter—you don’t know how your body will react if you get the virus.” And he worried about increased risk from the virus as the state eases restrictions this spring.
He also felt reassured by the novel methods used by the FDA-authorized Moderna and Pfizer vaccines to trigger the body’s natural immune system, which have proven 100% successful at preventing hospitalization or death from COVID-19.
“That gave me a lot of comfort to go forward with it,” he said.
A mild headache was the only side effect Taylor experienced after his first shot. “I was very anxious about the second shot because everyone said it’s worse,” he said, but after some initial dizziness, he was fine within a couple days.
Taylor understands why some people may be hesitant about getting vaccinated but encourages them to look at the data.
People are certainly free to question the vaccine. But I would encourage folks to look at how many people have taken these vaccines. There’s so much data, and there have been no serious outcomes to date from the shot. I have not heard of any difficulties that would have me second-guess my decision.