By Max Williams
Kansas City, Mo
Throughout the past couple of months, the world has been trying to deal with a huge problem: COVID-19. Earlier on, this virus caused millions of casualties. According to the CDC, the death total is 754,658.
Hearing these numbers still astonish me as we are providing more and more vaccines such as Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson. So how can we change the norm? What are some ways people are trying to reduce the death rate from this virus?
Here at our university, we are still making all students still wear masks inside all school buildings. These decrees are still guided under school policy and the city of Kansas City health guidelines. https://kcmo.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/a9cb1fa166aa44de99dab0b946b08799
However this weekend, the Kansas City Star reported that they would extend the mask mandate for all schools and school buses until Jan. 3. This news came out on Dec.2 with the Kansas City Council approving in a 9-1 vote. This extended mandate is helping students again to be safe within the classroom and outside as well.https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article256293552.html
So is it important to mask up when inside public buildings? I personally believe if we can keep our distance still from others in certain situations, then we can fight this virus much more quickly.
Also it is important to get vaccinated from one of the main distributors such as Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and others vaccines as well. Now how do some of our Avila students think about getting vaccinated or not. Here's what that said.
" I got vaccinated because I believe in the good of the community health and protecting those around me that can't that be protected such as those who are immunocompromised and cannot be vaccinated," said Emma Bishop '24.
Another student also agrees that people overall need to be vaccinated.
"I feel like it's the smart choice to be vaccinated against Covid, Past vaccines have worked, no need to favor this one. I am vaccinated and did it to be able to freely go places," said Darius Johnson '25.
However, not everyone is for getting a Covid vaccine shot. Some of the reasons behind is that not all people trust the vaccine and the side effects it presents to us.
One of these examples came back with the blood clots problem in the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. According to Vox.com, they mentioned that they found blood clots in "28 out of 8.7 million people who got Johnson and Johnson shot," This data was though found back in the summer when this was a huge deal.
Hearing this news, some students are not totally sold on the vaccine as a whole.
" I am not vaccinated because I'm still skeptical about the shot," said Frankie Castro '23.
Again these issues are related back to the blood clot issue within one of the vaccines in tbe Johnson and Johnson vaccine specifically.
Even though some people are scared of the vaccine and the possible side effects, we can't deny that being vaccinated makes us at least likely to die of Covid 19 I wanted to to get vaccinated because I wanted to be free from this virus and help out others around my community. To me, it felt like the right thing to do is protect my overall health. Again I feel it was very important for me to get the vaccine.
One of main motivations for getting the shot is to decrease the spread of Covid 19. I wanted to not affect my entire family with the virus and get them in risk. Also I wanted to help again the general public from me being a carrier of the virus and sharing with others.
Overall, I think students here at our school should get vaccinated from the virus. First it will help with your overall health and will help you be free from different types of Covid restrictions put against you. Yes there are some scary side effects with one of the vaccines. However looking back at most of the data and the information, there have been just slight evidence for the amount of side effects that this virus has produced in the past couple of months. But again people shouldn't be scared of the side effects. They need to value the importance of health and wellness.
I personally want everyone to get themselves a vaccine and help stop the spread of Covid 19. We need everyone on board and willing to get vaccinated in order fight this virus. So will you do it? Will be apart of the change and help our world from this virus? Please share your thoughts down below in the comments section about any of the vaccines or if you have or have not gotten the Covid shot.
Tune into next time for another edition of Avila Covid Conversations where will will have different topics relating back to Covid 19 and much more.
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