COVID-19 is a serious disease, millions of people have gotten coronavirus, and it affects thousands of people per week.

The COVID-19 vaccine does not prevent you from getting the coronavirus. However it does help your body fight off the virus and help you protect others. The benefit of mRNA vaccines is those vaccinated gain this protection without ever having to risk the serious consequences of getting sick with COVID-19.

P Simmons, a teacher at Bellevue East High School, has received both shots of the vaccine. Being over 65 years old with diabetes, he was very nervous to return to school, but he felt like he needed to come back and do his job.

“Yes, when school started I wasn’t sure I was going to come back. Because I have some of those comorbidities, like I’m a diabetic. I just was nervous and I’m old, over 65, and so I was nervous, but I felt like I needed to come back. Do the job. So I was careful: masks, handwashing, social distancing, you know, all those kinds of things. As the year went on it didn’t seem to be quite as bad so I felt better, I was still nervous, I was happy to get a shot.” said Mr. Simmons

A Closer Look at How COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines Work: COVID-19 mRNA vaccines give instructions for our cells to make a harmless piece of what is called the “spike protein.” The spike protein is found on the surface of the virus that causes COVID-19. COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are given in the upper arm muscle.

“You get two shots. After the first one nothing but Euphoria. I was very happy to get the shot, it did not hurt, I did not get sick, I had no anything. The second shot I had a slightly sore arm and I was slightly tired for a day. It was very easy, no problem at all.” said Mr. Simmons

According to an article on webmd.com, Once the instructions (mRNA) are inside the immune cells, the cells use them to make the protein piece. After the protein piece is made, the cell breaks down the instructions and gets rid of them. Next, the cell displays the protein piece on its surface. Our immune systems recognize that the protein doesn’t belong there and begin building an immune response and making antibodies, like what happens in natural infection against COVID-19. At the end of the process, our bodies have learned how to protect against future infection.

“I’ve just heard that it’s basically just injecting COVID into you, so I heard that people get pretty sick from it. ” said, Junior Ashton Joseph

The vaccine is viewed differently by everyone, some think it’s a good thing and others aren’t so sure about it. 

“I bet it would cause a bunch of things, because I know some people will not want to take it and I’ve heard multiple things where if somebody doesn’t take it then they’re not able to get into certain places, they’re not able to do certain things.” responded Ashton, when asked how he expects the future to change because of the pandemic and the vaccine.

The vaccine helps, but there are many people still concerned with the unknown contents of the vaccine. It is absolutely normal for us to feel unsure about this vaccine, but many want the vaccine because they want to be able to protect everyone else. Not everyone gets the vaccine for themselves, they also get it  for other people. Such as Ashton Joseph, a Junior at Bellevue East.

“I actually live with somebody that’s handicapped right now and if they came into contact with corona they’re chance of survival would be very low, so it’d probably be my number one thing to get it.”-Ashton Joseph “I feel like it was safe and checked out and I feel like I am now safe because I had the shot. We wear the masks and social distance still, but I feel like it’s much less likely that I’ll have a problem with COVID-19 as a result of the shot.”-P Simmons