Countries from all over the world are preparing to start giving COVID vaccines to their citizens. This is especially the case with the United States, with our country’s ever growing amount of cases, reaching nearly 1.4 million total COVID cases. L.A. County is the county with the highest total number of cases, 458,000 cases.

It’s become increasingly more important for people to stay inside and wear masks, yet there is still opposition to the idea, unfortunately. Hospitalizations continue to surge, making hospitals overwhelmed. 

With the coronavirus vaccine in its final stages of development and companies preparing for distribution, many people can’t help but be concerned about the vaccine, wondering if it was too rushed and worrying about possible side effects that could arise if they choose to take the vaccine. 

Although these concerns are valid for people to think about, it should be about time by 2021 when we reach a point where we can reach even a small amount of normalcy in our lives. A vaccine could be the cause of this.

However, the main reason for why many people aren’t comfortable with the idea of getting the coronavirus vaccine is because of the lack of time spent preparing it and the possible side effects. If we want a better idea of what getting the vaccine would look like, we need more volunteers to help ease the nerves of the American people. 

More talk about vaccine distribution means preparing a timeline and a list of people who will have priority of getting the vaccine at first. As a healthy American, it may take me months in order to get the vaccine, but it would be worth the wait. Companies will be giving priority to health care workers, essential workers, the elderly and people with underlying health conditions the first opportunity to have access to the vaccination. 

Although in the United States there isn’t an authorized or approved vaccine for the coronavirus yet, companies like Moderna and Pfizer are working around the clock to speed up the process for their vaccine to be approved. This has been causing some nervousness in the U.S. 

What many people don’t understand about the pandemic is that having a “natural immunity” from contracting the virus won’t be safer than not getting the vaccine. Vaccinations have helped people from contracting seasonal illnesses like the flu, and if everyone chooses to take the vaccine, it would be much more normalized. 

If everyone takes the vaccine, we can go back to a somewhat normal life much sooner than most people are expecting. If we as a country unite and work together, things will turn for the better. Hospitals would be able to provide aid to people without the virus with their whole attention. A time of healing for the United States can be upon us with the possibility of a vaccine, and after the trainwreck of a year we all went through, this vaccine can be a beacon of hope.