BUFFALO, N.Y (WKBW) — COVID-19 vaccine concerns have plagued the public, even raising concerns among health care workers.
"I'd say we're probably a 50/50 split for people who would be willing to get the vaccine and those who don't want to," Lindsey Acevedo, charge nurse of Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital's ICU, said.
Acevedo said she wants to wait to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
"I would probably not get vaccinated. That's just me personally. I would like to see what kind of side effects there might be. I'm sure that it's safe, just me personally, I'd prefer to wait," Acevedo said.
But she said many of her colleagues are looking forward to getting the shot.
"We've got people in their 60s who are seeing patients that are the same age as them. They're in that demographic. Their thought process is different about getting a vaccine," Acevedo said.
"It's okay to be skeptical. It is a new vaccine," Dr. Thomas Russo, Chief of Infectious Disease at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo, said.
Dr. Russo said he can't wait to take the vaccine.
"Just because this vaccine has been developed in record time, doesn't mean there's been any shortcuts in its evaluation both for efficacy and safety," Dr. Russo said.
Dr. Russo said the vaccine has gone through the same rigorous process as every other vaccine, and it is safe.
"I think as people see that as these vaccines are being administered and people are doing well with them, then they will be encouraged by that news," Dr. Russo said.
