Dear editor,

COVID-19 vaccines are necessary to return to somewhat normal life.

Vaccines keep you healthy, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s website, they reduce the risk of getting covid. Even in the chance that you still get COVID-19 after you get vaccinated, the vaccine severely reduces the intensity of the symptoms. If you get vaccinated, you are not only protecting yourself, but those who can’t get vaccinated.

Unlike popular belief, the vaccine can’t and won’t give you COVID-19. I personally think that one of the bigger reasons people refuse to get the vaccine is because they don’t know how it works. According to the CDC and John Hopkins Medicine website, the vaccine is made up of harmless spike proteins, imitating the COVID-19 virus.The immune system then recognises it as a forgein substance and creates antibodies to latch onto the spike protein. These antibodies stay in your body, so if you do get COVID-19, instead of having to produce all new antibodies, you have some antibodies, plus new ones, that the immune system creates. 

Aside from my two other points, you can in general, do more once you are vaccinated. Though, according to the CDC, it does take two weeks after you get the second vaccine to be fully vaccinated, it’s still better to get it sooner rather than later. Many shops don’t allow people who are unvaccinated to take their masks off, but some people still do. So editor and reader both, I am asking you to please, wear your mask, social distance, protect those around you, and get vaccinated.

Sincerely,

Keira Riemenschneider

Seventh Grader

Fairfax, VA