Vaccine News Has Been Positive, But Take it With A Grain of Salt... By: Thomas Schottland

 

        It is pretty safe to say there has been a growing impatience for this global health crisis to end. Ever since the start of the pandemic, people have looked to the day when we will all be able to congregate without masks or social distancing. But for that day to come, experts have suggested that a vaccine would be necessary. As each day passes, vaccine developers are publishing their trial results. Two in particular, Pfizer and Moderna, recently announced that their vaccines are 95% and 94.5% effective, respectively. These revelations caused a media frenzy and a stock boom after investors saw light at the end of the tunnel. This is great news, especially since we expected this moment to come much later. However, transportation and production issues of the vaccine remain at large. They need to be conserved at a specific temperature, and the production of the doses are slow. But another problem has become apparent to many health experts: People will are not so willing to take the vaccine. A recent poll was conducted regarding the vaccine and only 41 percent of people said they would take it immediately. That is no where near the amount needed to provide protection against this virus as a population. Plus, 37 percent of those 41 percent said they would not take it no matter the circumstance. This should be concerning for many vaccine producers and government officals, as they will desperately need to find ways to increase public confidence in the vaccine. One of the ways they have tried is by enlisting "sensible" celebrities to take the vaccine to persuade fans and others to take it as well. But this is just the first step...many experts fear that those that will take the vaccine will not be willing to follow CDC guidlines such as mask-wearing and social distancing. This cannot happen under any circumstance as it still puts those who are vulnerable at a very high risk of contracting the virus. And as we see COVID cases rise as we approach Christmas and the New Year, loved ones traveling and congregating will without a doubt spread the virus; and it will be tremendously important to be as safe and responsible as possible. At the same time, the U.S. continues to see record setting highs for new infections every day, and deaths are still going up, projecting about 305,000 total by the end of the year. It is quite ironic to me that at the start of this pandemic, fear of COVID-19 was high, but the severity of the spread was minimal. Now, people are not afraid of the virus, and maybe that is why we are in such a bad situation. So when you see the headlines about vaccine distribution, stay aware that there is still unfortunately a long way to go before we are out of the woods...and come to the reality that our lifestyles may never be the same.