As we all know, COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on today’s society, creating divisions between families and friends. Since the creation of the vaccine, people have argued back and forth, perpetually, for more than a year, regarding the efficacy of the vaccine. The efficacy of the vaccine has been debated during the creation and distribution of the vaccine, as well as when disputing the vaccination requirements that have been created nationwide. To learn more about changes made by D128, DOI has published article after article, to keep people informed. To learn about what exactly the Board of Education discussed regarding the masking mandate, you can go to ‘D128 Board of Education Community Meeting Focuses on Mask Mandate’, and if interested, you can view student opinions on Sarah Wuh’s ‘D128 moves to “mask recommended” status’, and ‘LHS Mask Survey Results’.

It seems as though a common theme since the pandemic began has been adaptability, from allowing students choice regarding masking, to creating a possibility for students to test to remain in school. District 128 has been transparent in not only reporting important information to the students and their guardians, but has also demonstrated that they are capable of adjusting. Students and guardians as well as the much underappreciated staff at D128, danced in a daze throughout the highs and lows of the pandemic, moving completely online, to complying with mask mandates to maintain the safety of peers.

To get more information on the correlation between vaccination status and ability to attend in-person school with optional masks, I met with one of LHS’ beloved school nurses, Ms. Cameron Traut. 

“Vaccination status plays into a lot of our decisions”, Traut said. “If you look at it from that perspective only [to stay in-person], that’s one reason [to receive the vaccine]. It’s helpful and important to get vaccinated. But, if you back up, the most important reason to get vaccinated is because we know that these vaccines are highly, highly effective, we know they’re saving lives, we know they’re doing what we want them to do and reducing serious illness that ends up with a hospitalization or potentially even death”. 

Moreover, the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) has produced countless articles regarding the results of receiving the COVID-19 vaccines. According to the NCBI, “Our results indicate that vaccination can have a substantial impact on mitigating COVID-19 outbreaks, even with limited protection against infection. However, continued compliance with non-pharmaceutical interventions is essential to achieve this impact”. Fortunately, according to D128’s COVID-19 Data Monitoring 2021-2022, as of February 10, 2022, 92.7% of D128’s staff have received the vaccine, 80.6% of VHHS’s students, and 86.2% of LHS students have all received the vaccine. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a statement that was updated on January 21, 2022, stating “Three COVID-19 vaccines are authorized or approved for use in the United States to prevent COVID-19. Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna (COVID-19 mRNA vaccines) are preferred.  You may get Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen COVID-19 vaccine in some situations”. For more information regarding the Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen (J&J) COVID-19 vaccine, you can visit the CDC’s website via this link, J&J. 

Along with the arguments pertaining to the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine comes copious amounts of misinformation.

Marcell Nunez-Smith, MD, says in a quote pulled from a video posted on the CDC’s website regarding the dangers of misinformation, “We are not letting the shot be a place where misinformation spreads”. Nunez-Smith exposes various myths around receiving the vaccine, such as infertility, and even magnets being injected into your person. For reasons such as reducing severity of COVID-19 for all age groups, and reducing hospitalization, the CDC strongly urges everyone to receive the vaccine that has been carefully constructed by capable scientists and bioengineers. The COVID-19 vaccine is supported by the World Health Organization (WHO), the CDC, as well as other institutions such as the Mayo Clinic. All of the aforementioned organizations have made it clear that receiving the vaccine is in no way harmful for people, it will not cause infertility, and you are not being injected with toxins or metals (magnets). The vaccine will simply allow COVID-19 antibodies to create a layer of protection against COVID-19.

My article is in no way intended to be an accusatory article, but advises people to consider the facts and statistics rather than the raucous raised within the kingdoms of misinformation that is worsened by social media. Getting vaccinated empowers people to gain antibodies that fight against COVID-19, which has killed and continues to kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people, and it provides layers upon layers of protection that has been approved by top scientists and health officials.