By Justin Pimentel
Ever since Covid started becoming a problem and we all went into hiding, we (and the whole world) have been waiting for a vaccine that can allow us to get back to normal. The covid vaccine has been long awaited ever since the Coronavirus became a worldwide issue. The development of this vaccine, by multiple companies has happened faster than any time in history. Usually, a vaccine takes at least five years to complete, if it can be made at all. This one was done in less than a year, which is a modern medical miracle.
Now the trick will be trying to get these vaccines made as quickly as possible so that people can get it. There have been a lot of questions about who should get the vaccine first. Since older people are the most affected by this disease, they are getting the vaccines before younger people. There has been discussion too that minority communities should get the vaccine before white people because they too have been hit harder by the pandemic.
Many companies including Merck, Pfizer, and now Johnson & Johnson are making the vaccines they developed as fast as they can. Soon everyone who wants it will be able to get it. The distribution and development of the vaccine has been taking some time to be running at full speed, but it seems to be there now. At the time of the writing of this article, companies are even manufacturing vaccine from other companies, all in an effort to get as many vaccines out as quickly as possible to the people who need them.
Even though there have been over 500,000 deaths and many infected by this virus, there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel. There is an end in sight, and now the goal is just how fast we can get there. Everyone wants to get back to normal, before we forget what that is. The pandemic and the restrictions that come with it have proven to be a challenging time for everyone through the past year. So, the demand for the vaccine is at an all-time high.
President Joe Biden has released much information regarding the new covid vaccines. One piece of information he had released is that the U.S. would increase its weekly supply of Covid vaccines by 5% providing at least 10 million doses for the next three weeks. This is good progress and the goal is to make sure that everyone can access a vaccine. The federal government says that the U.S. would increase shipments of the vaccine doses per week for up to 10 million. Eventually this would help ensure that everyone would in the United States can get vaccinated.
Shipments of the vaccine are said to head to pharmacies soon representing over 40,000 pharmacies worldwide. The phase one of the distribution plan is said to be to send 1 million doses to 6,500 stores including Walgreens, CVS, Walmart, and other stores that can be accessed by those who wish to get the vaccine. The faster the vaccines can be distributed, the faster that we can return to a more normal life without the restrictions that had changed everyone’s way of living and working. CVS stores in New Jersey started providing vaccines to customers on February 11.
Do not wait to go get this lifesaving vaccine. The faster that we can get past this horrible disease the faster that we can get back to a normal life, at home, at school and at work. See you all soon when we finally get back to school.
