You need to take the Covid-19 vaccination when it is available to you. Large scale vaccination is the only way we are going to pull ourselves out of the hole that our irresponsible actions and this deadly virus have dug us into.

Ignoring and opposing the first offered aid in a global pandemic for any reason is irresponsible, and will only prolong our population’s time having to deal with Covid-19. Though skepticism of news you receive from any source is vital to bettering our society and the conditions we live in, entirely refusing to take a vaccine developed to help while ignoring facts put out by trusted organizations like the CDC, is negligent and inconsiderate. 

If your skepticism of the vaccine derives from your uncertainty of what it does, information on how the vaccine actually works has been released by the CDC. According to the CDC, the vaccine “help our bodies develop immunity to the virus that causes COVID-19 without us having to get the illness.” Though contracting the virus can naturally cause your body to build an immunity, the vaccine works by creating an “antibody response” to the virus without ever actually needing to experience the sickness. 

Tamera Wollbrinck, Rangeview High School nurse, said, “The vaccines are mRNA, messenger RNA, vaccines so they do not introduce any live virus into the body. There is no way that you can get the disease from the vaccine. The messenger RNA just teaches the body how to react to kill the virus if it is introduced into the body. These vaccines have an efficacy rate of 94.5% – 95%.”

By getting vaccinated, you are simply helping your own body with creating the needed antibodies without the high risks involved with actually contracting with the virus. In addition, if you never get the coronavirus, you won’t be adding to the spread of it and will be helping to put a stop to it altogether. 

The past year has been far worse than any of us could have ever imagined, and the overarching hope of our society is a return to how things used to be, healthwise. 

“A big part of the reason I’m for the vaccine is because it’s honestly my last hope for things to get better sometime soon,” said Ashley Ageypong, a junior from Hinkley high school, who has many family members that work in healthcare. 

A huge part of getting things back to “normal” is working towards lowering the number of Covid-19 cases, which can be achieved by people taking the vaccine. For a lot of people, this vaccine is their last hope at a more timely return to a healthier world. 

Nurse Wollbrinck said, “Most importantly, to me, is that vaccination prevents death caused by COVID-19. In Arapahoe County we have had 44,857 reported cases of COVID-19 with 647 deaths. The growth of those numbers will stop once we have the majority of our residents vaccinated.”

If you want your normal life back, or something close to it, and for things to return to the way they were pre-covid, this vaccine is one of the major stepping stones in getting us back there. In order for the world to return to the way it used to be, “50 to 80% of the population will need to be vaccinated to reach the herd immunity threshold.” The herd immunity threshold being the point in which a population reaches “collective immunity” and the disease is no longer likely to spread.

According to the CDC, “protection from COVID-19 is critically important because for some people, it can cause severe illness or death.” Refusing to take the vaccine is not only unsafe for oneself, but also puts the health of one’s community at jeopardy. 

Agyepong’s aunt and uncle were infected by Covid-19 due to their positions in healthcare, but thankfully recovered. She said that their battle with the virus made her “realize that 406k people didn’t have that luxury. The people in their life [those affected] are still hurting. This vaccine is honestly the last hope; that’s why it’s so important.”

It has been the blatant refusal of safety guidelines and the disregardment of facts and information from scientists that has held our nation in this unsafe, unhealthy state for so long. You’d think that by now we’d have learned to actually listen to our scientists when they advise us to act for our own safety, but apparently something still isn’t clicking.

“I’m also just tired of this, as I’m sure most people are, so my only choice is to trust the CDC,” said Ageypong.

By taking the vaccine when it is readily available to you, and adhering to safety requirements set in place, we can start working toward a better future that we all need.

One might argue that since the beginning of this pandemic a stream of contradicting information has been put out about the best course of action to take to protect oneself from the coronavirus. In the earliest stages of the pandemic even information regarding the importance of wearing masks was confusingly switching back and forth. So why should one take something as “high-risk” as a vaccine?

However, we’ve endured this virus for close to 10 months now, the CDC and our public health administrators have had adequate time to study and observe the virus and its effects. It is safe to say that they have a much more clear sense of what the best course of action to take is. The vaccine was made in the effort to help the people and protect the population from Covid-19, which is why the vaccine is a necessity.

Nurse Wollbrinck received the vaccine herself earlier this month due to the fact that she is a “Registered Nurse working occasionally with COVID infected patients.” She expressed some nerves about taking the vaccine, mainly because of her dislike of “shots” but said “there was no real decision for me when I considered having a shot versus becoming ill with COVID-19. Taking a shot that could save my life, as well as others that I am around, was well worth it.”

At this point there is no possible way to deny the fact that this virus is very real. It has been real since the beginning. And because of this, the vaccine is an essential step in helping the population rebuild the state of its health.

So, when the vaccine becomes available for you, take it. Take the opportunity to grant yourself protection against this deadly virus that has had its teeth sunk into our ankles for nearly a year now. Get vaccinated for those people who can’t. And for the overall improvement of the safety and health of your community.