Pooja Shaunak
Reporter
COVID-19 has now been around since late 2019 and came to the United States in early 2020. The virus has changed the course of many people’s lives. As of late February, 500,000 people in the U.S. had died.
Scientists have been working hard to develop a vaccine since the cases started. As the numbers increased so too did their efforts. Vaccines usually take years to develop. However, vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer have recently been approved for use after less than a year from the initial impact of the coronavirus.
As the vaccines began making their way into the public, a system was developed to determine the order in which citizens received them.
In the first wave of vaccines administered, health care personnel, senior citizens, and those at high risk because of their ages or immune deficiency disorders were first in line to get the vaccine.
So far, only healthcare workers, senior citizens and those at high risk have received the vaccine or have appointments for shots, while others are waiting. Autumn Bigham, a freshman who works at a childcare facility, hopes to receive the vaccine to not only keep herself, friends, and family safe, but, most importantly, the children.
Bigham wears a mask every day at work and frequently washes her hands, but germs spread easily through kids, and she believes keeping the children safe and healthy at her job is the No.1 priority.
Some people feel that getting the vaccinations out to most people will help the country get past the pandemic.
“I am a ‘teamwork makes the dream work’ type of person,” said Rikki Garcia, a senior pre-med major at The W and a server at a local restaurant. “I believe if we all take preventative steps like wearing masks and getting the vaccination, we can return to the new normal.”
Some students expressed a concern about possible side effects of the vaccines.
“I believe in science, but I do want to see if there will be any long-term side effects, which perhaps has not been tested due to the short-term developmental stages of the vaccine,” said Presley Flowers, a master’s student in Mental Health Counseling student at Mississippi State University.
Flowers said all her classes are online, and she is fortunate to be able to work from home half of the week. When she does go to the office, she socially distances from her coworkers and wears masks.
Although many people are still taking precautions while in groups, at work and around family, Kelsey Cockrell, a senior art major at The W, has other thoughts. Cockrell’s mom and boyfriend, who are both in the healthcare field, have already received the vaccine. She said that they were both sick after getting the vaccines, and that deters her from getting it.
Cockrell still wears her masks in public places but is not too worried about spreading the virus because she is around her mom, who is always with patients, and her boyfriend, who is an EMT, and she has not gotten COVID.
Americans have differing opinions about the COVID vaccines, but most seem to be leaning toward getting it.
Although the vaccine was produced quickly, scientists have studied short-term effects on a variety of demographics, and government officials said the vaccines would not be administered it to the population if they did not believe it to be safe.