Student’s Thoughts on the Vaccines
By: Rewan Farag, Saron Amdemeskel, and Tomas Wayar
2/1/2021
2020 was a difficult year. Hopefully, 2021 will be better since there are two new Covid-19 vaccines. The FDA has approved two vaccines, Pfizer and Moderna. According to the CDC, clinical trials prove both have been effective, with Pfizer at 95% effectiveness, and Moderna at 94.1% effectiveness. However, many people are reluctant to take the vaccines, and there are problems with distributing them.
Although the vaccines are approved by the FDA, many students and their families at Glasgow are still unsure or unwilling to take the vaccine. According to one student, “The vaccine seems unsafe from what I’ve heard and I believe we should wait a little longer for the vaccine to be more well-developed rather than taking risks at the moment.” When that same student was asked if she was willing to take the vaccine after seeing the results on children and teens under 16, she said, “Yes, seeing actual data that is consistent would make me feel more comfortable taking the vaccine. Until then, I am standing with my opinion.” She also said, “I don’t think it is safe to get the vaccines just yet. In addition to that, the virus is getting worse and coming back stronger, so taking the vaccine might just be an unnecessary risk.”
In an interview, 8th grader Laura Stoker said, “I would get the vaccine so that this virus can end sooner and to stay safe. I don’t want myself or my family to get the virus and I want to go back to school, but to do that while feeling safe, I need the vaccine first.” Following that statement, she said, ”I think vaccinations should be required for everyone to keep others safe. If a handful of people don’t get vaccinated, the virus can last longer and kill more people than if they get the vaccine.”
A recent survey that 200 students at Glasgow took shows that many students are currently undecided on whether they should take the vaccine if approved for children. 35% of the surveyed students would take the vaccine if they could, with 65% of students either unwilling to or unsure if they would take the vaccine. Similarly, only 31.5% of students’ families are planning to take the vaccine at this point. However, 90% of the surveyed students could all agree that if they wanted the vaccine, they would have to wait sometime before getting it. As you can see, Glasgow students have many different opinions on vaccines.
Rewan Farag (she/her) attends Glasgow Middle School and is in 8th grade. She was born in Alexandria, Egypt, and lived there until she was 5. She then moved to Northern Virginia.
She loves to read and write. She has been playing the viola for about 4 years now and is in Chamber Orchestra at Glasgow MS. She knows how to speak Arabic and is currently learning French. She loves to swim in the summertime. She also loves to do community service; she is in a volunteer club. Her favorite subject is math and she has 2 brothers and a sister.
Saron Amdemeskel is in 8th and goes to Glasgow Middle School. She was born and grew up in Virginia. Her family is from Ethiopia and she has been there multiple times. She speaks Amharic and celebrates Ethiopian holidays. She likes to read and write and that is one of the reasons she decided to join Journalism Club. She plays the clarinet and is in Symphonic band. She also has a really big fear of spiders.
Tomas Wayar is an 8th grader at Glasgow Middle School. He is from Argentina, but he has lived most of his life in the United States. In his free time, he likes to play chess, talk with his friends, write, do math puzzles, stare at maps, and play video games. One day, he hopes to either be a lawyer or a doctor.
