Liberty Students Start Receiving COVID-19 Vaccine
With the approval of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and the beginning rollout in December came waves of both relief and apprehension. Despite concern about the quick turnaround in research and development, many Liberty students have opted to take the vaccine, excited to step forward and hopefully out of the Covid-19 era.
Caylee Farmer, a senior in the Pre-Med program, has received both rounds of the Moderna vaccine. Farmer, an EMT-B for Southside Rescue Squad and Appomattox County Volunteer Rescue Squad, was offered the vaccine through her work.
Farmer said that initially about half of her coworkers opted to take the vaccine, but more joined after seeing that the first round went smoothly.
“I believe in vaccines in general, I just feel that as a part of public health we all should just work to stay vaccinated and prevent disease,” Farmer said. “Honestly, to me the vaccine is better than the alternative of getting COVID.”
Farmer acknowledges the uncertainty of the vaccination and the sped-up process of its approval, but expressed that she chose to receive it, understanding the risks that she is avoiding by exposing others to the disease as an EMT, and being around family.
“This COVID thing isn’t going to go away if we don’t do something to fix it.” Farmer said. “I just want our economy to be okay, I want businesses to start running again, I want life to be normal again.
She continued, “If that means taking a vaccine, then I’m all for it. If there is something I can do to make all this madness stop, I just want to do it.
An fourth-year biomedical sciences major, Farmers trust in medicine and personal research played a part in her general feelings about the vaccine.
“I’m not scared of getting COVID anymore, I’m not scared of passing it along to my grandparents, it just feels really good to know that I am protected from it,” Farmer said.
After her first dose, Farmer experienced soreness in her arm, and mild cold symptoms that lasted about 48 hours.
The side effects for the second round were more severe, albeit temporary.
“That night around 7 p.m. I started feeling really fatigued, I got really bad body aches in the middle of the night, ran a fever, got the chills, had a headache, all that good stuff,” Farmer said. “But it only lasted for that one night – I woke up the next morning and I was fine.”
A few of Farmers co-workers also experienced similar short- term symptoms.
Katie Winn, a Junior in Liberty’s School of Nursing, is also signed up and excited to hopefully get the vaccine within the next month. Lynchburg General is offering the vaccine to students in the nursing program at Liberty, although it is not required that they accept and sign up to receive it.
“There are so many reasons I have to get [the vaccine],” Winn said. “Even though I have already had Covid-19, the vaccine will allow me to start having a normal life again.”
Winn challenged some of the negative claims circulating around the Covid-19 vaccines, and stated that the research she has seen herself put her mind at ease about taking the next
step forward.
“I do not believe that my life is any more valuable than the next, so I see no point in waiting to see how it affects others,” Winn said. “Herd immunity is honestly the only thing we can do to protect the vulnerable populations, and I want to be a part of that.”
Kayleigh Hamer is a Copy Editor. View her LinkedIn profile here.