Trusting the Science

03.03.2021

Dr. Andrea Luxton President of Andrews University

When you initially heard the COVID vaccine was available to you, what were your first thoughts? What are your current feelings now, seeing that you’ve had the first dose?

“Ah, good! Let’s get on with it!”

I’m pleased that I’ve had the first dose, but it’s a little frustrating that you have to have two doses and you’re not really covered ‘till two weeks after your second dose. So it’s really until six weeks before you’re fully covered, but I’m pleased that I’ve started on this process and feeling very good about it. It opens up things a little bit more; I feel less restricted and feel that I can do my job a little bit better and get out there more safely without fear of infecting others.

How long was your wait time in order to get the vaccine?

I hit the priority group theoretically in January, but then there were individuals such as health care workers and those over 75 years who came before. But I was on about three or four waitlists from early January. Eventually, I got sent a link to this particular clinic and was able to sign up. Once I got signed up with this clinic, it was only a matter of two days.

Many individuals are wary about getting the second dose due to potentially having more severe symptoms. How do you feel about getting the second shot?

I’m cool with that; the risks attached to the vaccination are so much lower than the risk of actually getting COVID and the impacts of potentially passing it on to others. I’ve had a lot of vaccinations over the years as well, so the first dose was not a problem for me. Also, you know that when you have a reaction that probably signals that if you’ve had it yourself; you could have been pretty ill. So I’m not worried about the second one.

If you could give a word of encouragement to the Andrews community during this time, what would it be? Many say “trust the science.”

Yes, I would agree to that. I think we do have to trust science. If the opportunity opens up, seriously consider going in to get the vaccine because my feeling is that it’s the only way we are going to be able to get past this and in a shorter rather than longer term. This is all about the community, not just about your own personal health; it’s about being able to move on from where we are now and bring back the quality of life to people.