ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. — Lyle Del Mundo has no intention of getting a coronavirus vaccine.

At least, not yet.

Del Mundo, a North Hollywood resident, said he would wait until the COVID-19 vaccine is 100% or near 100% safe before he offers his arm to receive it.

"I'm an early adopter for other things, but when it comes to my health, I tend to hold back," Del Mundo said.

With the emergency approval of the first COVID-19 vaccine and its arrival in Los Angeles and Orange counties this week, there is a lot of excitement around the news and that life can fully return to some normalcy as soon as next year once a majority of the population becomes vaccinated.

But as health care workers, first responders, and other high-risk seniors in residential homes receive the vaccine first, the reality of being injected a fast-tracked, untested vaccine for the rest of the public is beginning to sink in.

"For me, personally, I don't mind waiting," Del Mundo said. "I'll keep wearing a mask until my family, and I feel safe."

Like Del Mundo, for many, there is still a lot of uncertainty, distrust, and public wariness of adverse side effects around the COVID-19 vaccine despite the rising number of COVID-19 cases and more lockdown orders.

The vaccine's early arrival and lack of studies could pose a problem for medical professionals. Their biggest challenge is to convince a skeptical and hesitant community about the vaccine's effectiveness to help slow the spread.

"There are still a lot of question marks," UC Irvine Associate Professor of Public Health Dr. Andrew Noymer said. "It's a tough question about how they are going to do this because the obstacles are real. There isn't a one-size-fits-all message. People have real fears the vaccine is worse than the disease."

With more than 16 million coronavirus cases and 300,000 deaths in the U.S. as of Monday, the U.S. Federal Food and Drug Administration approved the first COVID-19 vaccine when it authorized Pfizer/BioNTech's emergency use application last week. The FDA will hold a hearing for Moderna's vaccine application this week.

Both companies have reported that their vaccines are 90% and 95% effective, respectively.

Still, there are persistent optimism, skepticism, and doubt among people nationwide and locally.

According to a national survey done at the end of November by the Pew Research Center, 60% of Americans are either definitely or probably likely to get a vaccine for the coronavirus. The other 40% of respondents said they are not likely to get a vaccine. Of that 40%, more than half stated they don't plan on getting a vaccine, and "no information will change their mind," the Pew reported.

The Orange County Health Care Agency's Vaccination Hesitancy Survey mirrors the Pew survey. The preliminary results of the Orange County Health Care Agency's study of more than 26,300 residents released at the end of November show that 60% of Orange County residents and health care workers plan to get vaccinated.

Safety is the primary concern for both groups, according to the survey.

While Asians are most likely to get vaccinated, other minority groups, especially African Americans and Latinx communities, are very reluctant, according to the Orange County health survey.

The health care agency will release the survey at a later date. The purpose of the study is to allow the Orange County Health Care Agency, along with their partners, to target specific communities and shape messaging once more vaccine doses become available.

The Orange County Health Care Agency did not return Spectrum News 1's interview requests.

Noymer, the UC Irvine professor, called the arrival of the coronavirus vaccines a "godsend."

"The vaccine is the one piece of tech that will help us," Noymer said. "People don't necessarily think tech when they think vaccine, but it is biotech. It's the application of science to a practical problem."

According to Noymer, the vaccine is a silver bullet.

"This vaccine has the potential to end [the coronavirus]," he said, adding he understands the apprehension by some public and minority groups on receiving a vaccine. There are plenty of cases of bad science used on minorities throughout U.S. history.

"There's been a lot of scholarly studies on why minorities distrust the health system in general," he said. "Some of the historical groundings makes you realize that it is not without reason that minorities sometimes distrust the health system. The most egregious is the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, and that's not the only example."

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study was a 40-year experiment conducted on 600 unknowing Black men starting in the 1930s by the U.S. Public Health Service to study the untreated effects of syphilis. Even when treatment for syphilis was found, government health officials did not treat them, and many participants died, went blind, suffered other mental and physical ailments, and in some cases passed it on to their children, according to reports. The government formally apologized for the experiment in 1997.

"We have a lot of work to do to overcome the mistrust in those communities," Noymer said, adding that health care agencies need to take a multi-prong approach to get people vaccinated. One suggestion Noymer made is to have the news broadcast President Donald Trump, President-elect Joe Biden, and former President Barack Obama, along with the first lady and former first ladies, getting vaccinated.

Tampa, Fla.-based pediatrician Dr. David Berger serves as a vaccine consultant and specializes in neurodevelopmental and immunological conditions. Berger spoke at Pfizer's vaccination hearing. Berger also plans to talk at Moderna's vaccine hearing on Thursday.

Berger, who serves as a senior medical adviser for the Vaccine Considerations Project, spoke to the FDA about vaccine hesitancy and the importance of transparency in the vaccine safety and efficacy to increase public confidence.

"As doctors, we have a duty to inform our patients about the benefits and risk of any medical procedures," Berger told the FDA. "If the person does not feel she was not given specific information about treatment, how can she provide informed consent?"

Berger told Spectrum News 1 that people should begin informing themselves and gathering as much data on the vaccines.

"We have to weigh the benefits with the risk and be informed to provide feedback," Berger said. "The fact is this is a brand-new vaccine that hasn't been studied longterm. That is the type of thing that will lead to hesitancy."

Berger said, on average, it takes five to 10 years before a vaccine comes to market. No vaccine has ever received approvals in less than two and a half years, he said.

"We have to ask ourselves, 'What will be the unintended consequences of that speed?'" Berger said. "We need to have open conversations about this now. This is going to be an emotional and personal decision to get vaccinated."

Noymer and Berger both said there is no time to scorn people for not getting vaccinated.

"We can't tell people to get this vaccine because we said so; that's the wrong approach," Noymer said. "I think educating people about the tangible benefits and the modest risk of the vaccination is better than scolding them and calling them an anti-vaxxer."

For Don Shields, a resident of Orange, he said he's probably going to get a vaccine once it becomes available for him. But he's torn.

"I have mixed feelings on that," Shields said. "Aside from vitamins, I don't like taking pills or anything like that, but I'm 59 years old. I'm going to be 60 next year. I'm considered high risk, and I am concerned if I get [the coronavirus], I won't make it."

Shields said it's going to be several months until the vaccine becomes available for him. Until then, he's going to keep track of it, learn everything about it, educate himself, and talk to his doctor.

"This was fast-tracked within a year," Shields said. "So I'm going to go ahead and sit back and wait a little bit and see what's going to happen. I am concerned about it. Am I going to grow a third arm if I get this vaccine?"

For now, he's going to play the percentages.

"Right now, since I'm high risk, I have a high-risk chance that if I catch it, then I'm dead," he said. "If I take the vaccine, I have a 95% chance of making it. We'll see what happens."