The Benedict News Spring 2021 Edition

time that there was to evaluate the vaccine.
Nevertheless, despite my hesitancy, I also
recognized that if it's the only way out of
this whole damn mess that we are in, then I
guess I'm going to have to get vaccinated.
It’s that simple.
Photo By
Krithik Rajasegar
SBP School
Administrators
established a COVID
testing center, right
in the HAB gym, on
the property as a
way of safeguarding
health.
In a conversation in early December with Fr.
Ed we were talking about the vaccine and
whether or not people would get it and what
it would take. As we talked we said ‘You
know, I think people are tired of hearing the
talking heads on TV and people that they
can't relate to. And quite frankly maybe it
would help people from our community,
especially African Americans, Latinos,
others that maybe come from poor
neighborhoods if they heard from doctors
that came from the same neighborhoods,
came from the same school as them, who
looked like them and could speak the same
languages as they did.’
Q) FC: Which vaccine did you receive?
A. GC: Moderna. Initially, I was very
concerned about the speed with which the
vaccine was developed. One thing that I
always trusted about it was to say that I
think we are in a time in history where the
heads of the drug companies would have
been very foolish to allow a vaccine to be
released without properly vetting it. They
know that ultimately it would wind up as a
class action lawsuit and it could really cost
them a lot. So I was always kind of
confident that the testing of the vaccines was
going well. I was just concerned about the
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So we put together expert panels for
livestreamed presentations in late December
made up of some of our alumni and some
other connections that we have. And we
were able to get seven physicians from
different backgrounds, many of whom went
to St. Benedict’s and many of whom came
from the Greater Newark area, to do a panel
and to tell us their thoughts. Going in we
didn't ask them what they thought of the
vaccine. We didn't ask if they wanted or
didn't want people to get the vaccine. We
wanted people to hear their raw thoughts.
That's exactly what happened.
If you watch those videos online you will
hear those doctors talking and the
information that convinced me. Well there
were a lot of things that involved me. But
the first thing that convinced me was Dr.
Guadalupe, who I went to (Benedict’s) with,
by the way. Dr. Guadalupe was speaking
and he said what I think is really important
for people to realize about these vaccines