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Quinn Creager

Dr. C

English 1201

25 October 2021

How can deciding whether to receive the Covid 19 vaccine or not impact your life?

Is this world ever going to go back to “normal,” or is this the new life that were going to

have to live? Everyone has been impacted by covid 19 at least in some type of way. The covid 19

vaccines have been released for almost a year now and there’s still a lot of people in the United

States deciding not to receive it yet. Working in the healthcare field has been hard, especially at

the beginning. One day, you find out that you were exposed to a lot of residents that tested

positive and other times you go weeks without being exposed to the illness. The covid 19 affects

people in many ways. Seeing a lot of older residents overcome the virus and few dying is what

made a lot of people in the healthcare ease up on some stress due to being exposed to it often.

Being part of a family of seven and only the older brother testing positive during the pandemic

was shocking to me since we’re a very active family. We have seen that deciding not to receive

the Covid 19 vaccine will negatively impact your life, by potentially affecting jobs, financial

stability, relationships, school, health, and freedom.

In the blink of an eye, everything changed. On January 9th of 2019, the mysterious

coronavirus-related Pneumonia in China was announced, and there was no idea what was coming

for the whole world. Once the news started coming out about the pandemic, a lot of things

changed in this world. The airports started health screenings, global air travel was restricted, the

U.S. declared a public health emergency /and much more. There was a lot of confusion that
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started with how this pandemic started and no one really knows the answer yet. Also, the two

factors that only helped with identifying if you had covid or some other illness going around was

losing your smell and taste or to get tested. Some people got upset when Ohio’s lockdown

restrictions went into place that consisted of wedding receptions, funerals, proms, concerts, and

visitors for hospitals as well as nursing homes. It was very hard to see nursing homes get shut

down because families missed being able to see their loved ones for a while. Some residents got

depressed and would cry because they’re so used to being able to see their families. The

shutdowns for the healthcare facilities also made it harder for the workers because some of the

residents felt lonely. All they needed was someone to talk to them for a while but what made it

hard was being short staffed while trying to find the time to do so.

Believe it or not they have studied the corona virus disease for many of the years. Dr

Almeida identified the first type of the Covid illness in 1964 in London (Brocklehurst). A

vaccine can take up to 10-15 years but since researchers have been studying different covid

diseases for a while, so they didn’t start from scratch. Dr Hotez has studied 10 years of the

coronavirus recently in Texas. They got connected to a New York blood center that had previous

information that they could put together to get a better understanding about covid vaccines

(Berg). Specifically, finding out how to deliver a spike protein speed up the vaccination process.

Since the group of researchers in the United States came up with the vaccine so fast, they need to

share vaccinations to help people throughout the world, so they can have an option to receive it.

Some people still have trouble wrapping their mind around on how there’s a covid vaccine but

there are other diseases that are still not preventable, which have been out for a while. They’re

continuing to discover how the pandemic first started. A two-person team from WHO traveled to

China to hopefully come back to the US with answers. Theories for the spread of the corona
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virus include hunting for animals, a seafood market, and lab leak are just a few possibilities.

Hopefully, eventually someone will find out the true story of how the new coronavirus just

transferred from animals to humans but at the same time this whole pandemic has caused a lot of

damage and some things that won’t ever be able to be fixed.

Older unvaccinated adults or people with underlying health conditions, have a higher

chance of having to go to the hospitalized or could even possibly die. Just recently, they started

administering the booster shots for select groups of people. Flu shots are also highly

recommended for people over the age of 65 just as much the covid vaccines (“Seniors”). People

that are older or immunocompromised might feel as if they must get the vaccination due to all

the scary things that they have heard about a greater risk of death due to the illness. Knowing of

senior parents where the wife talked the husband into receiving the Covid vaccine because the

greater risk of death caused some problems. Whenever someone might try to persuade your

decision on the vaccine, which can be hard and cause a lot of stress in your life because in the

end, it will affect your life in a negative way. In the age group of 65-74 years old, 87% are fully

vaccinated in the United States which is a very high percentage. Even if you live with someone

who is a senior or immunocompromised, they strongly recommend you receive the vaccine, so

you would have a lesser chance of spreading it to them (“Seniors”). But if you’re younger, don’t

have any underlying health conditions, and don’t want the vaccine what does it matter because

you never know what could happen twenty years down the road. If everyone agreed in the first

place that if you wanted it good for you and if you didn’t then also, good for you but I guess

nothing happens that easy in this world which is very sad.

Deciding whether to receive the vaccine or not could potentially be affecting you now or

in the future with traveling, wearing a mask, lockdowns, education, and a lot of other things.
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Two days ago, a lot of articles came out about how the united states is changing it to where non-

citizens and non-immigrants must be vaccinated to travel by plane to the US (“Air Travel to the

U.S.”). Here soon, it might be held accountable to this rule of being vaccinated to enter certain

countries for traveling anywhere in the world. A bunch of cruise lines including the Royal

Caribbean require age twelve or higher to be fully vaccinated before taking off (“COVID-19

Vaccine to Cruise?”). Different cruise lines and the places that the ships are going to differ with

the rules that are in place with Covid. So, if someone continues to stay unvaccinated, they may

never have the opportunity to go on a cruise. Unvaccinated college students are already starting

to struggle to finish or start their degree. Workplaces requiring certain college degrees might

struggle even more due to the mandate. New York is already enforcing the vaccine passport,

which you must show before taking part in most indoor activities. Yes, it is your choice whether

to go out and do things outside of your house but, it is also your freedom of choice to decide to

receive the vaccine. “Civilian inspectors from 13 city agencies were expected to begin the

enforcement” (Levenson). People that run their own businesses, have no choice but to require

vaccination status before entering the facility could hurt their sales. Either wearing a mask inside

the store or showering proof of vaccination should be enough to allow you in. Are you going to

be able to live without a vaccine soon?

The Civil Rights Act of 1964, banned employment discrimination of all race, color,

religion, sex, or national origin in the United States so everyone can be treated equal (“Civil

Rights Act of 1964”). Knowing some people that got exemptions excepted from their workplace

by including that it shouldn’t be required by the “Civil Rights Act of 1964” makes a lot of people

happy. The pandemic has caused a lot of stress for many of the people in this world and if they

start taking activities that people participate in away due to vaccine status it could cause more
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problems. Is there a better way that we can meet in the middle to give citizens a say in whether

or not to be vaccinated without getting punished by it?

“U.S. economy remains 5.3 million jobs short of where it stood when COVID-19 hit”

(“Staffing Shortages Due to the Pandemic”). There is a Dunkin’ Donuts sign that was going

around almost all social media platforms.

Whenever you go to a grocery store, hospital, restraint, etc. the new normal is possibly expecting

excessively longer wait times. Right now, there are a lot of workplaces that haven’t even started

the vaccine mandates yet. Some businesses have shortened their hours to help with the staffing

problems they are running into. In-n-Out Java located in Kettering, Ohio is one of many

restraints that have had to adjust their business hours in order to keep the place up in running.

New Covid, testing and vaccine mandates could possibly make staff shortages even worse in

California. If a lot of school employees refuse the vaccine or mandatory weekly testing, there’s

going to be issues teaching kids what they need to know. Shortly, we will be able to see how the
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mandates affect healthcare facilities due to New York starting theirs soon. A third of nursing

home employees in New York are unvaccinated (Michel). If vaccination refusal is expected to

worsen the understaffing at some facilities, then who knows what’s going to happen soon. The

U.S. Government is now trying to make all employees that have any contact with residents get

vaccinated and if they don’t follow this order from the current administration they’re going to

lose Medicaid and Medicare funding . Nothing makes most healthcare workers unhappy than

being short staffed hurts the residents in the end. Think about it, if you weren’t physically able to

take care of yourself and need help from others and think about how you would feel if no one

was able to help for a long period of time. Short staffing in nursing facilities has caused a great

patient to staff ratio. Could you imagine is your loved one hasn’t gotten a shower in a week,

sitting on a toilet longer than usual waiting for help, less interactive time with the employees,

preventing falls, adjusting residents to prevent bed sores?

Starting December Military personnel must be fully vaccinated or get an exemption to

avoid getting discharged. Since the military is barely accepting exemptions, they could

potentially lose a lot of service members. More than two-thirds of Americans wouldn’t qualify to

enlist in the military so if a lot of people decide to separate the rest of the service members that

stay in might end up struggling with a heavy workload. Potentially, if too many service members

try to receive, and exemption and they don’t get accepted they might start threatening

dishonorable discharges. This decision can be especially hard for people that only have a couple

years left until retirement. There are still a lot of unknowns of what’s going to happen once they

receive an exemption. Could these service members have to keep renewing the exemptions that

originally got accepted further down the road? Vaccine mandates can be hard for everyone, but
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active duty is a full time job unlike the reserves and guard so they could have a tougher decision

to make for them and their family.

When taking your newborn to the doctor after giving birth there are a lot of vaccines that

medical personnel recommend. Even though doctors might encourage certain vaccines, you still

have the option as a parent to refuse a vaccine or even all of them for your child. Although, in

order to take your kid to daycare or when they start school there might be certain mandatory

vaccines in order for them to go. There are 16 vaccines recommend dispersed from birth to 18

years old (Robyn). These vaccines have been out for a good period of time and have been

injected into many people throughout the world. It’s easier to trust a vaccine when there’s plenty

of years of data to prove that it has worked efficiently and above all safely. Parents might

struggle here soon with schools and daycares if they don’t want their child receiving the vaccine

if it becomes mandatory. Potentially, vaccine mandates might end up putting a lot more stress on

parents if they have to make a hard decision to choose to vaccinate their kid or not.

On the other side of the spectrum there is data that proves there’s a difference related to

deaths whether you’re vaccinated or not.

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The graph posted right above shows how unvaccinated people are more likely to die from Covid

(Putka). Also, there’s a lesser risk of Covid spreading as much if more people are vaccinated.

Some people believe that if everyone gets vaccinated that we will be able to go back to a

“normal” way of living life. Data from other parts of the world that prove that you’re more

protected for other variants that might arise in the future if you’re fully vaccinated. At the same

time even though all this data shown above is true, everyone should still have the option to be

vaccinated.

There are still a lot of unknowns about the Covid vaccine since they only started

administering them into arms about a year ago now. In the end who knows how these vaccines

can affect you down the road. Even though there’s not a scientific study yet of the Covid vaccine

affecting some women’s menstrual cycles, it is now happening. A lot of ladies have had similar

problems with longer periods and causing them to be irregular can be worrisome. Personally,
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dealing with this same problem myself has been hard, especially when calling your OBGYN and

they are avoiding documenting in your chart the issues that are going on. What does it take for

researchers to do more studies with women’s menstrual cycles after receiving the vaccine? In the

end, if they end up finding that this issue ladies are having will not affect you in any major ways

than it would ease up some people’s minds that are struggling with this right now. Another

question that’s asked a lot is who’s held liable if an adverse reaction happens after getting

vaccinated? Since there are already some adverse reactions after receiving the vaccine even

though researchers say theirs only small amount, it would still suck to be one of those people

who are affected by it. Before mandating vaccines, a good idea would to be first be able to show

someone that has the vaccine injected in them for a long period to prove that nothing will happen

to your health later down the road.

The world has changed so much since the beginning of Covid 19. There are still a lot of

questions about what might happen in the future with the vaccine mandates rising. Being told

that the vaccine wouldn’t be demanded to be mandatory in December of 2020, then fast-forward

to right now where jobs are being threatened. Choosing not to receive the vaccine might take

opportunities away. There are people who are sticking to their beliefs about the vaccine. But

some have already had to give into receiving it due to school, jobs, traveling, etc. Also, if they

almost make in impossible to live life without the vaccine then why not give into it instead worry

about your future down the road. Who’s to say that if they mandate everyone to receive the

vaccine, the booster might be next in line. Is there any way the government can meet in the

middle with the people that don’t want the vaccine at all? We have seen that deciding not to

receive the Covid 19 vaccine will negatively impact your life, by potentially affecting jobs,

financial stability, relationships, school, health, and freedom.

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Works Cited

Berg, Sara. “How a Decade of Coronavirus Research Paved Way for Covid-19 Vaccines.”
American Medical Association, 26 Feb. 2021, https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-
care/public-health/how-decade-coronavirus-research-paved-way-covid-19-vaccines.

Brocklehurst, Steven. “The Woman Who Discovered the First Coronavirus.” BBC News, BBC,
14 Apr. 2020, https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-52278716.

“Do I Need a COVID-19 Vaccine to Cruise?: Royal Caribbean Cruises.” RTS-03/21 - Do I Need
a COVID-19 Vaccine to Cruise?, https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/do-i-
need-a-covid-vaccine-to-cruise-what-counts-as-proof.

“Greensboro Restaurant Struggles with Staffing Shortages Due to the Pandemic.” Staffing
Shortages Continue Due to Pandemic,
https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte/news/2021/09/23/pandemic-staffing-
shortage-.
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History.com Editors. “Civil Rights Act of 1964.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 4 Jan.
2010, https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-act.

Intelangelo, Leonardo, et al. “Effect of Confinement by COVID-19 on the Lifestyle of the

University Population of Argentina: Evaluation of Physical Activity, Food and Sleep.
Efecto Del Confinamiento Por COVID-19 Sobre El Estilo de Vida En Población
Universitaria de Argentina: Evaluación de La Actividad Física, Alimentación y Sueño.”
Retos: Nuevas Perspectivas de Educación Física, Deporte y Recreación, no. 43, Jan.
2022, pp. 274–282. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=s3h&AN=152262875&site=eds-live.

Jania, Candace. “The Treatment of Long COVID with Chinese Medicine: A Case Report.”
Journal of Chinese Medicine, no. 127, Oct. 2021, pp. 17–22. EBSCOhost,
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=152939128&site=eds-
live.Levenson, Eric. “New York City Now Enforcing Covid-19 Vaccine Requirement for
Most Indoor Activities.” CNN, Cable News Network, 13 Sept. 2021,
https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/13/us/new-york-vaccine-passport/index.html.

Michel, Lou. “Staffing Shortages at Nursing Homes May Worsen with Vaccine Mandate.” The
Buffalo News, 24 Sept. 2021, https://buffalonews.com/news/local/staffing-shortages-at-
nursing-homes-may-worsen-with-vaccine-mandate/article_3674ea92-1c87-11ec-bf88-
975ae03176ac.html.

“Non-U.S. Citizen, Non-U.S. Immigrants: Air Travel to the United States.” Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/noncitizens-US-air-travel.html.

Putka, Sophie. “CDC Now Reports COVID Cases and Deaths by VAX Status.” Medical News,
MedpageToday, 19 Oct. 2021, https://www.medpagetoday.com/special-
reports/exclusives/95119.

“R/Antiwork - Ask for an Application If You're Impatient.” Reddit,

https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/qf8w2j/ask_for_an_application_if_youre_i
mpatient/

Robyn Correll, MPH. “Mandatory vs. Recommended Vaccines: What You Should Know.”
Verywell Health, Verywell Health, 28 Jan. 2021,
https://www.verywellhealth.com/mandatory-vs-recommended-vaccinations-4147210.

“Seniors.” Washington State Department of Health,

https://www.doh.wa.gov/YouandYourFamily/Immunization/Seniors.