Why get the COVID-19 Vaccine?

Jennifer Rojas sat at a bar in Manhattan in early March 2020 and laughed with a friend she hadn’t seen for a long time. The muted TV displayed statistics of how fast the virus was spreading around the world. The thought of it happening to her didn’t cross her mind. As the hours went by and the bar cleared out Jennifer and her friend hugged goodbye and went home.

Two weeks later, Jennifer started to have trouble breathing. She also had a high fever and sore throat. On March 28, 2020, she realized that she had become one of the 52,318 people in New York City with COVID-19. Jennifer recovered, but the effects of the virus lingered. Suddenly she couldn’t smell or taste anything and her new hobby of cooking lost its magic. Studies made by the National Library of Medicine state that about 85.6% and 88% who have had COVID-19 experienced dysfunctions in their sense of taste and smell.

Vaccines weren’t available then, but Jennifer learned the importance of a vaccine because COVID-19 grabbed hold of her. Although she was 27 years old and had always been healthy, the coronavirus was a reality check. After March, as the seasons changed, Jennifer managed to keep herself safe by following cleaning and disinfecting protocols. But what she didn’t expect was to spend a lonely Thanksgiving and Christmas away from her family because she got the virus a second time. “Since I got COVID twice, I figured getting the vaccine would be my best bet to protect myself against the virus. I wasn’t hesitant because I wasn’t trying to get COVID a third time. I believe in the science that reassures us every day that the only way to reach herd immunity is through the mass population being vaccinated,” she said.

COVID-19 also made Lorena Mejia sick early on. Lorena was an after-school counselor for young kids between the ages of five and ten years old. The kids sat at the table and exchanged toys and snacks and ran through the halls holding hands with no care in the world. The recreation center she worked at was not requiring masks at the time, even though the cases were rising in New York City. It almost seemed as if they were in their own little bubble as the outside world crumbled. A few days before going into lockdown, Lorena woke up one morning feeling lethargic and decided to stay home.

Like Jennifer, she lost her sense of taste and smell. She no longer could taste her mom’s chicken soup that was supposed to make her feel better. Lorena decided to get vaccinated as soon as it was available to her, “My parents are older and are at high-risk, and I worry that if they do get sick and it happens to be one of the new variants, that they may not be able to fight it,” she said.

Even though they had COVID-19 antibodies, Lorena and Jennifer rooted for a vaccine. Lorena doesn’t understand vaccine resistors. “I don’t know why they wouldn’t get it,” Lorena said. “Unless they have serious health restrictions when it comes to getting the vaccine. I don’t know why they wouldn’t get it. It’s clearly stated that those who have pre-existing health conditions can react differently to the vaccine. They have been out for months and have mainly shown protection against the vaccine more than anything else. I think it’s selfish not to get it.”