The Biggest Benefit of Getting the COVID-19 Vaccine
My dad has been fully vaccinated and my mom will get her second dose next week. For them, there is one clear-cut benefit of the COVID-19 vaccine that outweighs all the rest.
It's peace of mind.
They live in a rural area in Nebraska and it's not a place that's teeming with big crowds, but even with a small population, they have had an incredible number of positive cases there. They've had plenty of quarantines and a few deaths in their little town.
My mom and I email each other every day, and several months ago she started mentioning how much her hopes were riding on the vaccine. She considered the shot to be a safety net, and for her sake, I wanted it to happen. My dad had the chance to get the shot first and mom could not get one at that point, but she got on a list and got the first dose about a week later. It was the Pfizer vaccine for both of my parents.
I'm well aware that there are two sides to the vaccine discussion and one side is less enthused about injecting the medicine than the other. I don't even know where I land! I'm happy to let everyone else go first, and if the opportunity arises for me to get the vaccine, I'll cross that bridge then. If you want it, I hope you can get it.
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Both of my parents said their arms were a little sore after the first dose (similar to a flu shot), but there were no side effects. One friend of mine who is younger than my parents and works in health care got the shot too and said the second dose made her feel super fatigued and semi-sick, but she rebounded after a day. My dad didn't have any side effects from the second dose.
Whether or not the vaccine turns out to be 100 percent effective for my parents remains to be seen, but for now, the peace of mind that they have is the biggest benefit.
And that cures quite a bit.
LOOK: Answers to 30 common COVID-19 vaccine questions
While much is still unknown about the coronavirus and the future, what is known is that the currently available vaccines have gone through all three trial phases and are safe and effective. It will be necessary for as many Americans as possible to be vaccinated in order to finally return to some level of pre-pandemic normalcy, and hopefully these 30 answers provided here will help readers get vaccinated as soon they are able.