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Rob Ellis

English Composition II

24 October 2021

Literature Review

One of the most influential things in many people’s lives over the last two years has been

the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. When the pandemic first started it drastically affected and

changed every person’s normal life. The ability to go back to some normalcy has been dependent

on the COVID-19 outbreak to die down. A lot of controversies have sparked over the last 6-8

months regarding COVID-19 vaccinations and the requirement of these vaccinations to return to

normal life. I myself am not vaccinated but I am not opposed or to getting vaccinated. This is

why I felt the perfect topic for the largest paper I’ve had to write up to this point in my school

career would be regarding such a hot topic and one that can affect my life so drastically. My

research question that I will be diving into over the course of the next month or so is “How do

COVID-19 vaccinations impact someone's life and should they be mandatory in the United

States?”

There have been over 45.4 million cases of COVID-19 and over 736,000 deaths from

COVID-19 in the United States so far. In December, the first wave of COVID vaccinations were

distributed and the average person was able to get their COVID vaccination last spring. More

urgent people like doctors or people that are more in need of vaccination were able to get their’s

first and the ordinary person was able to get their vaccinations after them. According to the CDC,

“over 413 million doses of COVID vaccinations have been given out to the public and roughly

57% of all Americans are vaccinated” (Covid-19 Vaccine Fact Sheet).

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The United States Department of Veteran Affairs has informsation listed on their website

regarding where and when you can get your COVID vaccinations. According to the VA website,

“both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines require 2 doses to be effective. You must

receive the same type of vaccine for both doses.” The VA website goes on to state how easy it is

to get the COVID vaccine and that although it is not required in all capacities it is highly

suggested that you get the vaccine.

Other countries across the world like New Zeleand have implemendened policies

regarding COVID vaccination statues. One of these policies is that if you are not vaccinated you

cannot work as a doctor or teacher. “Fiji says all of its public and private sector workers are

liable to lose their jobs if they fail to get fully inoculated by November” (Rasheed 1). Fiji’s

mandate to have all working people vaccinated has had great effect on the country. The COVID

rates have drastically declined since Sepetember and the country has seen great results since

implementing this mandate.

While a majority of Americans are vaccinated in just a short amount of time, there are

still a wide amount of people who remain unvaccinated. Northeastern University did a huge

study of people who are unvaccinated and questioned why they decided not to get the vaccine.

“There were also worries about how vaccines would impact existing health conditions such as

allergies. Some respondents felt that the vaccines had not been tested enough to guarantee that

problems won’t pop up years from now” (Ramjug 1). Some feel as if this vaccine that was made

in such a short ammount of time was rushed and wasn’t made as thoroughly as it could have

been. They have a feeling that this vaccine will harm them and they aren’t willing to take any

risks with it.

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A study done by a group of doctors in India found that India has a high “prevleance” for

COPD which gives them a high risk of having worse symptoms if they get COVID. This study

goes on to say how improtant it is for people in India to get vaccinated so they don’t get COVID

because of the amount of evidence that has been found showing that they have a much higher

chance of getting more sick from COVID than the average American. Although Americans may

face similar issues it is worrisome knowing that if you are not vaccinated you can possibly get

someone else sick who may have risk factors like this.

Many people feel it is their right to not be dictated to get a vaccine. I agree that people

should have the choice to make their own decision when it comes to all vaccines including this

one but I also see the benefits with getting vaccinated. Countries that have required everyone to

get the vaccine have seen great results and have likely make COVID more like a flu type virus

where you can get an annual vaccine shot instead of a deadly virus that can ruin a country. In my

paper I would like to go into further detail about people that are against the vaccine and why they

feel this way. With almost half of the country still unvaccinated there are clearly people who

have reasons to not get the vaccine and I would like to further research why they feel the way

they do.
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Works Cited

“Covid-19 Vaccines at Va.” Veterans Affairs, https://www.va.gov/health-care/covid-19-vaccine/.

“Covid-19 Vaccine Information for Patients.” Patient Care at NYU Langone Health,

https://nyulangone.org/locations/covid-19-vaccine/covid-19-vaccine-information-for-pati

ents.

Fact Sheet: Covid-19 Vaccine. Ohio Department of Health, 2020.

“Key Things to Know about Covid-19 Vaccines.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/keythingstoknow.html?s_cid=1049

3%3Acovid+vaccine%3Asem.ga%3Ap%3ARG%3AGM%3Agen%3APTN%3AFY21.

Neeraj Gupta, Raja Dhar. “Impact of Covid-19 on (Non-Covid) Chronic Respiratory Disease

Outcome Survey in India (CCROS Study).” PubFacts, Lung India, 18 Oct. 2021,

https://www.pubfacts.com/detail/34472524/Impact-of-COVID-19-on-Non-COVID-chron

ic-respiratory-disease-outcome-survey-in-India-CCROS-study.

Ramjug, Peter, and Peter Ramjug. “Why Aren't the Unvaccinated Getting Their Shots?” News @

Northeastern, 23 Sept. 2021,

https://news.northeastern.edu/2021/09/16/why-are-people-not-getting-vaccinated/.
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Rasheed, Zaheena. “Should Covid-19 Vaccines Be Mandatory?” Coronavirus Pandemic News |

Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 19 Oct. 2021,

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/10/18/should-covid-19-vaccines-be-mandatory.

Zimmer, Carl, et al. “Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker.” The New York Times, The New York Times,

10 June 2020,

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/science/coronavirus-vaccine-tracker.html.