It has been little over one year now since Covid-19 first came to the public light, and in such little time the lives of everyone across the globe have been affected in some way or another. With over 96.2 million total cases, 24.3 million in the U.S. alone, how society functions has been ultimately shifted, with businesses being closed down, masks being in vogue, and people staying home.

However, in this same short time period scientists and doctors around the world sought to change this, developing a full-on Covid-19 vaccine in a matter of months. Pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Johnson and Johnson have been in cahoots with medical professionals across the globe to synthesize, mass produce, and distribute a Covid-19 vaccine in order to attempt to return the world to a somewhat “normal” state of being.

Although some of these vaccinations have been authorised by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and have actually begun to be distributed, it is of dire importance that one researches the vaccine first, and discovers if the vaccine is fit for them to receive.

It is true these vaccines have been authorised by the FDA, but it is imperative that the people understand how and why it is authorised. Most of these vaccines are authorised for EMERGENCY USE, according to the FDA. To the layman, this may appear to me no more than medical jargon, logic and diction used to essentially mean the vaccine is approved for citizens to use. However, society and citizens should be more wary of the vaccines Emergency Authorisation, instead of tossing the statement aside.

This vaccine being approved for “Emergency use” sets off a few red flags immediately. The word “Emergency” may imply that the vaccine is not fully developed, but just effective enough to be distributed without massively overwhelming side effects. It is important to keep in mind that this vaccine was developed in the span of months, while typically vaccines will take around 10-15 years to develop, according to historyofvaccines.org. 

This may not be the only negative side to these vaccines either. There have also been multiple cases of people having died shortly after taking these vaccines. Although those who died shortly after taking the vaccine were elderly, all 75 or more years of age, and there is a lack of a direct correlation between the vaccine and their deaths, this is still information one should be aware of. According to the Norweigian Medicines Agency, it is possible that these deaths occurred due to how elderly patients with mild symptoms of vaccination such as fever and nausea could have underlying conditions worsened, and lead to death.

Those championing the vaccination typically follow the line of reasoning that this vaccination will help keep others who are at risk safe, via vaccination or herd immunity, which in all honesty may be a rather truthful claim. It is true that vaccination can and will prevent the spread of disease, never seen as explicitly as prevention of Polio’s spread in America during the 1950s and 1960s. 

Despite the effectiveness of vaccination and herd immunity in the past, however, society and medical professionals have never tested its effectiveness with a vaccine developed in less then a year. As stated before, the vaccine may be imperfect, and cause more trouble down the line then it was initially created to prevent.

It is also clear that a cry for normalcy to return is a large role in the desire for Covid-19 vaccinations. Though a vaccine may appear to help the world onto the fast-track of this return, as aforementioned this vaccine has a possibility of being less than desirably effective. Even with a vaccine normalcy will not be immediate, so scientists and medical professionals should take their time to ensure the perfection of the vaccine and to ensure a smoother transition into normal life rather than rush its creation over a panicking world population.

The Covid-19 vaccine is rather a feat of humanity’s will to innovate at its finest. Humankind’s ability to critically think and solve problems led to one of the fastest synthesis of a vaccine in history. As impressive as this may be, it is critical that society takes caution against such a vaccination. In the midst of a pandemic, the worst possible outcome would involve making things much worse as a result of carelessness, and the world as it is now is much better off without such a scenario.