“I had a good friend of mine who died literally within two weeks of that first vaccination who would have loved to have had it. Dr. Shadowen would have loved to have had this. Thousands in our communities who would have loved to have not died because of this disease. I feel that they would be reaching out to us right now and saying, ‘Prevent this from happening to thousands more….’”

“…the only way we can protect ourselves is herd immunity. And that is when most everyone is vaccinated so that small subset of people doesn’t get the virus because it’s not being transmitted freely in the community. But, if there’s a lot of transmission — like there is, unfortunately, now — those people who cannot get the vaccine are going to end up being infected. So, that leads to people we would like to protect we can’t protect because we don’t have that herd immunity….”

“…now is actually the perfect time to be vaccinated. Not just to protect yourself, but your family as well as your community. So, it is important because protecting yourself is also protecting others around you – mainly your loved ones as well as your community – especially those who cannot take the vaccine, those who are children and those who are immunocompromised….”

“We care deeply for this community and we want to see a strong movement to end this pandemic and to able to provide the care for people and the other health issue that they have and not be having to have our hospital full of patients fighting COVID. That way, we can focus on the other healthcare problems that people have….”

“If you want to wrap your arms around a nurse, a respiratory therapist, a lab technician – if you want to wrap your arms around a healthcare worker, then do it by getting the vaccine.”

“…the governing bodies for obstetrics and gynecology, as well as maternal-fetal medicine…are now all strongly recommending that all pregnant, lactating and women of reproductive age receive the COVID vaccine to decrease the risk of severe illness.”

“Our best chance of ending this pandemic, and keeping the virus at bay, and preventing infection in the future is to get vaccinated so that we all have some sort of immunity built up and we’re not treating people in a reactive fashion after they’ve contracted the virus – but we’re being proactive in preventing the spread of it.”

“The COVID vaccine is very important to our community and our patients. We do not want to be out sick. We want to have a herd immunity, and I’m personally vaccinated and I encourage all my co-workers to get vaccinated.”

“I took my first vaccine around 12 weeks, so I was about at the second trimester, and after consulting with my physician we both felt that was important to protect not only myself but as well the health of the unborn child….”

“As a healthcare provider, I want to set the example for the community; and I want to be able to protect some of the patients we might have that are unable to be vaccinated, children that are unable to be vaccinated….”

“…you’re not just protecting yourself. You’ve got to remember you’re protecting others around you who may be immunocompromised and who may very well die from the virus if contracted.”