Image provided by BACH.
COVID has been around since late November 2019, and there have been 33,223,604 total cases and 592,964 total deaths as of May 27, 2021. Because of the impact of the pandemic, there has been a push for widespread vaccination. The covid vaccine became available to everyone in California in mid April. There are three different brands of vaccines you can get: Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson. The Pfizer vaccine is available for anyone above the age of 16, while the other two require you to be 18 or above. The Johnson and Johnson vaccine is a one shot vaccine.
I was eligible for the COVID vaccination due to me being an essential worker, as at the time I worked at a food restaurant. Making the appointment was very simple and straightforward. Me and my family looked up vaccination sites, searched for ones that had spots, and booked appointments and got scheduled for March 27th. At the time I made my appointment, it was only available to essential workers. But as of now, anyone above the age of 16 is eligible.
When arriving at the vaccination site we were told to bring our ID and insurance card and to come 10 mins early. When we got there we waited in a long line with our windows up in the car. We got the paperwork and filled it out while being in the line. When we got to the medical tent they came up to us individually and we had the option to get out of the car, and they prompted us through it and we got our vaccines. After we got them they told us to wait 15 mins at the parking lot for observation. This whole process took about an hour. We got the Moderna vaccine. The medical professional who administered the vaccine instructed us to not take any painkillers except for Acetaminophen. They scheduled us for shot number two for a month later.
I felt anxious during the whole process. I was also wondering how much the shot would hurt compared to a flu shot but surprisingly enough it didn’t hurt at all. The process took very long and was boring for the most part. It was also very exciting because this would be a first step to being fully vaccinated. After everyone is vaccinated we can maybe go back to normal. I haven’t received the second vaccination yet but WHS student Jason Kozak said he didn’t feel too sick after the second shot: “I was told to over hydrate before and after the vaccine and that worked out well.” I got my second shot this April 23rd, my expectations are high of going back to normal.
Aansh Sharma is a junior at Washington High School. He grew up in Munich, Germany and Mumbai, India and then Fremont, California. This is his first year at the Hatchet. His interests are running the Gaming Club and reporting on the local news. He also likes to play video games. He would like to get a job in Computer Science to allow him to support himself. While Computer Science seems boring, he will try to have fun with it despite that, and also distract himself with gaming sometimes.