Be patient with those who are hesitant about the vaccine

A Pew Research Center poll last month found that 15 percent of adults said that they would “definitely not” take the COVID-19 vaccines and another 15 percent said they would “probably not.” That 30 percent, which includes me, unfortunately experiences ruthless resentment from a portion of society. We encounter accusations of “not caring about others,” being “gullible to misinformation” and being “unaware of what is happening to our world.”

However, these opinions do not apply to me. My heart would shatter if one of my family members contracted this threatening disease. I devote hours listening to Dr. Fauci and other health experts’ comments about the vaccines. And I am aware that COVID-19 has produced in America more than 29 million cases, with more than 50,000 new cases daily, and resulted in more than 538,000 deaths. In fact, a friend of my dad’s in New York City nearly died from the coronavirus, so my dad assigned my sister and me to remote learning this school year. Additionally, I pray for my uncle in California who is currently combatting COVID-19.

To clarify: I am not against vaccines themselves. I find Jenny Mccarthy’s constant remarks about vaccinations causing autism to be utter gibberish. Furthermore, I always have to push my dad to let me take the influenza vaccine every year due to his own hesitations about flu shots. But even though the COVID-19 vaccines are said to be as much as 95 percent effective, the influenza vaccine, which accord

ing to the CDC “only reduces the risk of flu illness by between 40 percent and 60 percent among the overall population,” appears safer to me only because it has been scrutinized for much longer.

Furthermore, especially since the new vaccines were conceived sooner than anticipated thanks to technological advancements, I wonder if enough testing had been performed before the vaccines’ public releases, or if companies were pressured to issue the vaccines as soon as they could to please impatient Americans who yearn for things to get back to “normal.”

Also, my mother, Mary Ann Lee, an oncology nurse who got her second COVID-19 immunization on Jan. 8, tells me that the CDC emails her every day to monitor her post-vaccination health status. While we periodically joke over the CDC’S abundant email spamming, I cannot help but wonder: If the CDC itself is so concerned, why can’t I be, too?

People like me refuse to accept the vaccinations until the CDC holds absolutely zero doubts over them. Yet I know that this situation is virtually impossible.

The best thing that can truly comfort uncertain individuals like me is time. Be patient with those who approach you and express their concerns about the shot. Be patient with those who constantly research the vaccine. Be patient with those who are not mentally prepared to set up an immunization appointment. We will get there.

Eventually.

Harassing us about our apprehensions will only worsen our anxieties, not alleviate them. Just as people who support the vaccine are tired of hostile “anti-vaxxers,” our patience for those who criticize our unease is on the verge of collapse. As more people get vaccinated with assuring results, I hope to slowly come to appreciate the rapidity with which the vaccine was conceived, rather than be alarmed by it.

One day, I will courageously leave the 30 percent.