California waits on Pfizer and Moderna
By Sophie Salem, Staff Writer
On Dec. 14, 2020, distribution of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines began in the U.S. Despite California's stated goal of vaccinating all civilians 65 years and older, only 15 percent of California has been vaccinated as of Feb. 18, 2021. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health announced last week that beginning March 1, educators can begin receiving the vaccine.
The COVID-19 vaccines require super cooling and must be thawed and injected within six hours of opening to ensure maximum efficacy. Given this limited window, tens of thousands of doses are discarded daily which forces Americans to show up at the end of the day to receive a vaccine before it goes to waste. Julia Miele, parent of Isabella Miele-Okada (’22), has expressed her concerns for expiring vaccinations.
“I would definitely consider waiting in line to get an expiring vaccine as I want to be vaccinated as soon as possible… and there is no reason to throw any vaccines away,” Miele said.
With 30 vaccination sites throughout LA County, the closest site to Santa Monica is in Culver City. It has been burdensome for Santa Monica residents as they have to travel to receive a vaccine. For the past month, the city has been working closely with state leaders and public health departments to bring a vaccination site to Santa Monica and more reliably vaccinate the community.
Both Pfizer and Moderna have reported 95 percent efficiency of their vaccines, but many people, known as Anti-Vaxxers, strongly disagree with inoculation. Armed with conspiracy theories and skepticism, these cynics recently led an anti-vaccine protest at Dodger Stadium, the country’s largest mass vaccination site. Concerned that LA residents were being forced to accept a vaccine that they did not need, the 50 protestors forced a temporary shutdown of the vaccination site. Anna Wren Vanden Bosch (’22) believes that these riots are incredibly unfair and only hurt the general public.
“While I understand their argument that they should decide what goes into their body, it is completely unfair to the children that cannot be vaccinated due to other health issues. The anti-vaxxers are exposing the at-risk population significantly,” Vanden Bosch said.
As COVID-19 vaccinations become more available, researchers turn their attention to younger generations to test a safer vaccine for children as young as 12 years old. Moderna needs at least 3,000 teenagers, aged 12 to 17, to volunteer for their new vaccine trial. Eve Davidson (’22) is very adamant about supporting these trials.
“I would definitely volunteer! There’s been so much loss, the least I can do is get some shots to help end this pandemic,” Davidson said.
California’s 2015 vaccination mandate made it difficult for families to use medical exemptions to avoid vaccinating their children. Students must now be vaccinated for measles, chickenpox, polio and many other diseases to attend California public schools. Despite these requirements, the COVID-19 vaccination has not been mandated thus far. Principal Antonio Shelton is unsure about what is to come in the following months, but predicts that the district will implement new rules.
“I’m sure that when we return, new vaccination laws will be put into place,” Shelton said.
Dr. Anthony Fauci has stated that America is still many months away from vaccinating enough people to end the pandemic and unless this anemic pace dramatically increases, it may take until January of 2022 for full herd immunity. With more efficient and active distribution of the vaccine, America is slowly progressing to the way it used to be.
