The Issue at Hand
It’s no surprise that since the beginning of the pandemic, the vaccine has been searched for by scientists all around the world in an effort to protect everyone. Since last year almost half of the U.S. population has been vaccinated and the vaccine has become a focal point for all citizens. As we approach a fully vaccinated society, however, it seems as if though the question has arisen, “Should we prioritize those who are unvaccinated, or those who require a booster shot?”
What is a COVID Booster?
The COVID Booster shot is almost like a third dose of the vaccine. While the boosters purpose is to increase the amount of antibodies a person has to fight against COVID by about 10x. The beauty of the booster is that it is not only used to strengthen the protection one has against COVID, but the fact that it’s able to strengthen the original vaccine as time goes on in order to make sure that individuals have a lower risk of not only contracting the virus, but also feeling any effects of the virus.
“Nearly 1 million Covid-19 vaccine booster shots have already been administered in the U.S. since health officials authorized administering extra shots of Pfizer or Moderna’s vaccines to people with weakened immune systems on Aug. 12”, according to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Those who have taken the booster shot can see the benefits of the multiplied antibodies as they gain not only extra protection to the virus, but can also feel safer knowing that they don’t run the risk of potentially dying to the disease.
The Statistics
In a time frame of 10 months (January 16, 2021 to Oct 16, 2021) the United States saw a 50% jump in vaccinated individuals within society. Sitting at 57.8% of the entire United States population currently fully vaccinated it sits as no surprise that the focus should have shifted towards vaccinating the missing 43.2%. Another key issue that should be noticeable is the fact that out of the 413M doses given, only 190M of those are actually vaccinated.
As seen in the chart, not only is it alarming that only a little over half of the population has been vaccinated, but also the fact that a majority of the states have a third of their population that are not fully vaccinated. States like California, Texas and Florida all with over 25M people living within each state, yet only have 15-25M of their population fully vaccinated.
According to the CDC, “A growing body of evidence suggests that people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 are less likely to become infected and develop symptoms and are at substantially reduced risk from severe illness and death from COVID-19 compared with unvaccinated people.” A substantially reduce risked does not guarantee that you will not eventually conctract the virus, however, it does further protect you from potentially contracting it as easily as someone who does not have the vaccine.
The COVID deathrate, would be the second most alarming section of the statistics of the pandemic. In a little over 2 years, COVID has taken the lives of 736,000 people in the United States. The good news is that since the vaccine was given to the public and the vaccination rates have improved, an astounding decrease has been seen in the curve. In the last 7 days, the average of deaths has decreased 4.3%, which while on paper may not seem like much, it shows improvement in our society.
What does the Future hold?
While it is uncertain what the future holds for us in terms of the pandemic, one thing is very clear: we must protect ourselves from this deadly virus. No matter the cost, we must know that taking the vaccine is one of the very few sound ways to protect ourselves from the virus. While many make the vaccine out to be a political stance or something that the government pushes upon us they fail to see that the vaccine was made with the interest of the people. The syringe that many fear could be a ploy by the government, is simply the way to find a resolve in this pandemic. As seen with many prior outbreaks such as Polio, Tetanus, Hepatitis A and B, and Measles are just a few cases where a vaccine that was mandated to all have protected us from a disease deadly enough to make a nation tremble.
Even while the vaccine does end up protecting you, this does not mean that you should not wear a mask. This vaccine merely serves as an extra layer of protection for what we already have. If we were to use the vaccine as our only layer of protection while others are not vaccinated, we could see those who are vaccinated as carriers. The goal of the vaccine is to be an extra glove and mask to the ones that we already have on as we walk around.
The easy way out would be to consider a way to give people a mandatory vaccine. While many argue the idea that forcing the vaccine would be unconstitutional or would infringe on their rights, they don’t stop to think of all the damage that they do if they were to contract the virus or potentially spread it to someone in their family that is unvaccinated. As people we should come together with a common goal and understand that getting the vaccine would not only benefit us as individuals, it would protect the ones we love and those we communicate with on a daily basis. The question should not be “Why should I get the vaccine?” it should be “When can I get the vaccine?” Sometimes we must take a look at the outside world and understand that we must help eachother in order to get past these troubling times.
