The vaccine will save lives
Taking the coronavirus vaccine is essential to bringing an end to this pandemic
Victoria Ferguson / Contributor / The USD Vista
2020 has been a year of chaos, strife, and pain. The center of it all was the SARS-coV-2, or as we have come to call it, COVID-19. The identification and spread of the coronavirus began at the end of 2019, when the Hubei province in China reported cases of pneumonia, which were then discovered to actually be caused by a new strain of coronavirus. People were anxiously awaiting a treatment in order to recuperate from that year of chaos, strife, and pain.
Over a year later, the FDA gave emergency authorization to use a COVID-19 vaccine. The first company to successfully develop and test the vaccine, Pfizer-BioNTech, followed by Moderna, perfected the vaccine by its use of mRNA, or messenger RNA. The mRNA works by instructing our cells to produce a copycat form of COVID-19’s signature “spike” protein which in turn triggers a person’s immune response. In order to successfully accomplish its task, two doses of the mRNA vaccine is required.
Just last month, Johnson & Johnson released its vaccine, which is made from live attenuated virus and only requires one dose.
The ultimate purpose of the vaccine is to prevent COVID-19 infection, so that once we are all immune we can go back to normal life before the events of 2020. At the very least, the vaccines have been shown to prevent serious disease requiring hospitalization and lessen the risk of death. Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their lives to this virus in the United States alone. Across the world, it has killed almost 3 million people. It is imperative that we, as a society, take the vaccine to not only save ourselves, but to save the lives of everyone around us.
Pharmaceutical companies and medical experts advised that the vaccine be released in multiple phases. Phase 1A gave priority to healthcare workers and long-term care facility residents. It is those very people who need to be protected the most, and taking the vaccine brings us one step closer to keeping them safe and sound during these troublesome times.
San Diego is currently in Phase 1B, allowing frontline essential workers, like the staff at University of San Diego (USD), and people above the age of 75 to get the vaccine. Phase 1C guarantees the vaccine for people from ages 16-74 with medical conditions as well as other essential workers.
Over 78,000,000 people have been vaccinated in the U.S., but, as with every vaccine there has been opposition, most based on the fear of the side effects. Some people are afraid they will actually get COVID-19 from the vaccine.
There have been reports of people that died after taking the vaccine. Tim Zook, a 60-year-old X-ray technologist, got his vaccine on Jan. 5, and four days later, died from organ failure. There is no proof that the vaccine caused his death, yet anti-vaxxers are using stories like Zook’s to support their invalid argument by using the tragedy of people’s deaths. According to the CDC, the potential side effects of taking the vaccine are fever, chills, tiredness, and headache, as well as a very sore arm, which are common with any vaccine. It would be better to experience a couple days of chills and fever rather than spending weeks in the hospital suffering or even dying.
Experts estimate that 70-90% of the population will need to be vaccinated in order to reach herd immunity.
If only a few people get the vaccine, it is not going to be helpful going forward, but if everyone gets it, then we have a better chance of our next generations only having to worry about COVID-19 as you would care about the common cold today.
It is essential that we are united on this issue for the betterment of mankind. Our local community can start one step at a time. USD is already providing great resources for the students by offering free testing on campus through Rady Children’s Hospital.
As access to the vaccine increases at USD, the administration should begin contributing to the decline of COVID-19 by including information on their website, social media, etc., concerning who can receive the vaccine and when they can receive it, as well as where to go to get one.
This pandemic has really helped demonstrate how interconnected we all are as a species. And if we are to be successful as a species, we need to all be on the same page as far as taking these vaccines.
The views expressed in the editorial and op-ed sections are not necessarily those of The USD Vista staff, the University of San Diego, or its student body.