My daughter had to write an argumentative paper for school.  We have combined our thoughts below regarding the vaccination dilemma:

Covid-19 or the Coronavirus has been affecting the world for two and a half years now.  There has been controversy ever since the Covid-19 Pandemic began as to where it came from and if it was manmade. When vaccines became available, there were strong opinions on both sides about whether to get the vaccine or not.  Some even speculated the government was doing population control with these so-called vaccines.  Meanwhile, others believed strongly in the life saving benefits these vaccines would provide.  Pfizer and Moderna were two vaccines that came out requiring two doses, while Johnson and Johnson provided a one dose vaccine.

We felt strongly in my grandparents getting the vaccine early on since they are in their 70s with some underlying health concerns.  Sadly, so many lives have been lost to this virus, and we did not want my grandparents affected if we could help it.   When the vaccines rolled out for their age group, we were online scheduling appointments at the nearest facility to ensure they would be protected.  Up until that point, my grandparents were afraid to leave their houses because they did not want to be infected with the virus.  It was incredibly sad not seeing them at Christmas in 2020 because of fear of the virus that was claiming lives left and right at that point.  My grandparents preferred to be safe and rarely left their homes until they were able to secure an appointment to receive the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine.  After their second dose two weeks later, we had to wait another two weeks before we were finally able to be reunited with them again.  It was such a hard time going through this and missing them so much.  It was a sweet reunion when we were able to be in the same room with them and an added treat to be able to hug them again!  We did not want to let go of them after all of the time spent apart!

As of March 19, 2022, there have been a total of 3,449,806 people in the world to only receive the first dose of the vaccine.  The number of fully vaccinated people is only at 2,904,366 in the world.  Part of the hesitation in getting the vaccine was due to side effects people were developing, especially from the Johnson and Johnson vaccine which was said to produce blood clots.  Studies have suggested this vaccine could possibly cause birth defects to unborn babies of women who receive the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.   It is only natural to want more research into a product you are putting into your body to ensure no long-term side effects will occur to you or to your unborn babies.  Even with ongoing research proving the effectiveness of saving lives with the Pfizer & Moderna vaccines, people have still been against putting a foreign substance in their bodies.  Certain people are convinced that the vaccines nor the masks work to prevent Covid-19.  Even though research has shown that masks will help prevent the spread of Covid-19, people are still up in arms about wearing them as well as getting the vaccine.  They would rather argue about their effectiveness and how implementing mask mandates and some companies implementing vaccine mandates were taking away their freedom.   People did not think of their fellow man in cases like my grandparents who are older with underlying medical conditions.  They would rather argue instead of putting a piece of fabric over their nose and mouth to prevent spreading infected droplets on to others.  We have been highly disappointed in people showing no regard for their fellow man especially in cases like those where people have underlying medical conditions which makes them even more at risk of developing serious life-threatening complications if they were to catch Covid.  Why not do all you can to protect yourself and others from this known deadly virus?

On the flip side, there are people that argue over allowing your natural immune system to do its job.   While I understand this, other vaccines such as those to prevent Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Polio, Chickenpox, and Hepatitis B were required before children would be allowed to attend school. I remember being told my immunization record was not up-to-date, and I could not attend school if we did not get into a doctor’s office to receive the needed immunizations to update my record.  If the other vaccines were required due to their lifesaving measures, why, then, is the Covid-19 vaccine not required in a school setting?  Furthermore, in smaller classrooms with conditions that do not allow you to socially distance yourself from your school mates, it would seem necessary to protect yourself by getting the vaccine and wearing your masks. This should be required of others in the classroom setting as well.  Sadly, it is not.

When the vaccine came out for my age group, I thought about it long and hard before I decided to roll up my sleeve to take it.  My family and I prayed that we were making the right decision and that we would not have any bad long term side effects from it.  We felt strongly in protecting our family because we wanted our family safe and together.  Seeing lives being lost on the news to this horrible virus saddened us greatly, and we did not want to take a chance in losing any of our family members to this virus.  My parents and I have been vaccinated, and my grandparents and sister have been vaccinated as well.

There have been people who argued that once you are infected with Covid that you cannot get it again.  This is false information, though.  While you have a natural immunity to the virus for 90 days after being infected with it, you can still be re-infected with Covid.

Yet again there are arguments with people saying it was foolish to get the vaccine since you ended up catching Covid anyway.  Again, if those around us had been wearing their masks or had gotten vaccinated instead of coughing and sneezing while claiming it was “just allergies,” maybe we would not have been infected by them.  However, the vaccine was not a surefire way to prevent the virus, but it was, instead, a way to ensure milder symptoms if you were to become infected with it.  Studies have shown a higher rate of hospitalizations due to non-vaccinated people requiring care in ICU and even being placed on a ventilator.  Those vaccinated individuals tend to have milder symptoms where they are treated at home and do just fine. Again, the vaccine does not guarantee you will not become infected with the virus, but it only helps ensure milder symptoms.

My family and I are just getting over two weeks of being infected with Covid-19.  Being that I am younger, I did not have any complications and only had headaches, felt achy and tired, as well as having congestion and a runny nose.  I did not develop a fever, and my lungs were not affected by the virus.  My parents had milder symptoms as well but did feel the effects of the virus longer than I did.  We are all thankful for having received the vaccines so we only had milder symptoms and did not require treatment in a hospital setting.  It was along the lines of flulike symptoms, but we do not wish to go through this again.  Therefore, after our three months of natural immunity, we plan to get our booster shots especially with news of another variant being found in Europe.  There is fear that while mask mandates have ended in certain places that we will need to place our masks in a drawer to pull them back out later for Winter when there is another surge of the virus.

We feel strongly that the vaccines are meant to preserve lives, and we encourage anyone “on the fence” to get the vaccine to help them should they become infected later.