Will a COVID Vaccine Alone Be Able To Bring Our Lives Back to Normal?

By Frederick Suh

Cypress High School

The world has been waiting for a COVID vaccine, hoping to return to a "normal" life. However, the development of a COVID vaccine will not be able to bring our lives back to "normal". COVID has already altered the way we live and affected many aspects of our lives in many negative ways. The economic and social disruption caused by the pandemic is devastating. Not only has it impacted our economy, but also affected millions of people who are sick or being killed due to the spread of this virus.

Many researchers believe that it is going to take months or even years to vaccinate everyone in the world who needs to be vaccinated. However, they believe that the development of a COVID vaccine will eventually end the pandemic. A former U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner states, "Once we get these vaccines in sufficient qualities heading in 2021, the combination of the fact that a lot of the population have already had COVID, combined with the fact that we'll be vaccinating the public with a highly effective vaccine, we could effectively end this pandemic". He believes that the combination of an effective vaccine and the number of people who had the virus could help end the pandemic next year.

Kenneth Yang, a senior at Fairmont Preparatory Academy, disagrees. He states that, "I personally do not feel as if the COVID vaccine will be able to bring our lives back to normal and end the pandemic. Factors such as the economy and businesses going bankrupt are already an aspect of the aftermath that is projected to be quite difficult to recover. Other factors such as lives lost will be priceless to the people with relatives that have experienced losses because of covid". This shows that there are too many factors that COVID has already contributed in a negative manner and it is really difficult to recover.

Although it is true that a COVID vaccine will reduce the number of COVID cases, the vaccine alone will not be enough. The impacts of this virus in daily life are extensive and have far reaching consequences. Kyle Min, a junior at Los Alamitos High School, states that "Currently a lot of nations are in disarray in both political and economic environments, and in order to get things back to normal, we also have to worry about those things as well". He believes that people should be aware of the seriousness of these impacts and try to find a way to recover.

We will not be able to return to "normal" with help from only the vaccine. Therefore, it is paramount for us to follow basic public health guidelines and maintain or continue maintaining social distancing.