Free tickets to the Super Bowl for those who get vaccinated 1:11
Editor's Note:
Annika Olson is Associate Director of Policy Research at the Urban Policy Research and Analysis Institute at the University of Texas at Austin and a Public Voices contributor to The OpEd Project.
The opinions expressed in this comment are solely his own.
See more opinion articles here.
(CNN) -
I am a healthy person, 26, who has already received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from Moderna.
I considered it important that I get the vaccine, as it would not only strengthen my immunity against the new coronavirus, but it would also help protect those around me.
However, for many of my colleagues, it seems that the vaccine is something very secondary.
Many of the young people I have spoken with do not want to deal with the side effects of the vaccine, such as fatigue or chills, while others simply want to "wait a while and see" if they really need it.
Some people have told me that they are concerned that the vaccine will harm their fertility, a concern that I see constantly on the Internet.
A survey, conducted in April by Quinnipiac University, revealed that 36% of the youngest Americans interviewed - under the age of 35 - do not plan to get vaccinated.
That's well above the 27% of the general population and only 10% of older people who don't want to get vaccinated.
10 reasons why young and healthy people really need to get vaccinated against covid-19
I understand that there are fears and doubts about the vaccine, but those who doubt should verify their data.
The side effects of the vaccine are minimal and temporary (yes, I got really tired after my second vaccination and took a lot of naps, but I barely missed work).
I know muscle aches and fever can be a daunting factor, but it means the vaccine is doing its job.
In addition, the side effect of blood clots related to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which caused great concern about the safety of the vaccine is incredibly rare: there have only been 15 known cases in 8 million people (which would be equivalent to 15 people in, say, all of New York City, if everyone in the city got vaccinated.)
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An article in Behavioral Scientist magazine, published in January, sums it up well: “Vaccines protect us from infection by stimulating the creation of antibodies against a specific germ.
Side effects, such as fever, chills, fatigue and muscle pain, are a sign of reactogenicity, that is, a physical manifestation of a successful immune response.
And there is no evidence that the vaccine can harm your fertility, we will disprove that right now.
I talked to my medical friends, I searched the Google Scholar articles, and I searched the tweets of scientists, and I found that the concept that the vaccine affects fertility is nothing more than a myth.
Myths about the covid-19 vaccine: these reasons for not getting the vaccine don't hold up
What there is evidence of is that vaccines are extremely effective against covid-19.
In clinical trials, Moderna and Pfizer vaccines were found to be 94% to 95% effective in preventing COVID-19 infections.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was found to be 66% effective against moderate and severe forms of the disease.
In other words, you most likely won't get COVID-19 if you're fully immunized.
Also, if you get vaccinated and do contract the disease, chances are you will not become seriously ill or die from it.
A good deal, huh?
How much do vaccines protect against covid-19?
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It is equally important to point out that young people are a critical population that should be vaccinated to avoid the prolongation of this pandemic.
We are much more likely to spend time in crowded social settings, going to bars and restaurants, dancing, etc., especially now that the country has started to relax its curfews and restrictions.
If vaccines are very effective, and young people are not vaccinated, we will continue to spread COVID-19 among us, as we have seen in Michigan, where young adults led to the latest spike in COVID-19 cases.
Is this how we want to be after everything we've been through in the past year?
I do not believe it.
You want to be healthy, I want to be healthy, we want our communities to be safe and we want to finally be able to buy tickets to movies and concerts.
For this, we need to have these vaccines in our arms.
Research shows that they work and that the side effects are bothersome, but minimal.
So go ahead and take that selfie with a bandage on your arm to show that you got vaccinated and know that you did something good for yourself and others.
Or, if TikTok is your thing, make a fun video after getting vaccinated or create a hilarious explainer video about why vaccinations are best.
We can do it, family.
covid-19 vaccine