The Covid-19 Vaccine: Is It Worth It?

There are two types of people in this world. Those who support vaccines, and those who don’t. And now that the world has been introduced to the idea of the COVID-19 Vaccine, it’s time to pick a side.  

Some question how scientists have managed to come up with a vaccine this quickly in just over a year, even with the multiple strains of the virus, with varying degrees of severity. As well as this, there is also the problem of age restrictions. For example, the Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine is only available for people of age 16 and above, which means that anyone below that age is susceptible to the virus. The other vaccine, AstraZeneca, is not currently available in Singapore. Many people are not keen to be vaccinated, because of this slightly alarming fact: the average vaccine takes 7-10 years to be developed, while these companies have done it in less than a year.

On the other hand, Mark Toshner, Director of Translational Biomedical Research at the University of Cambridge says that there is no reason to be alarmed because the reason that the vaccines take so long to be exposed to the public is that the speed of the process relies on the funding and time spent reviewing findings. Since the COVID-19 Virus is such an urgent, pressing issue, scientists have been given funding and testing equipment faster and have thus been able to work more efficiently and quickly. 

I believe that the vaccine won’t cause any harm to those who take it, and we should all try to help stop the spread of COVID-19 by vaccinating ourselves. Currently, the Singapore Government has decreed vaccination free for Permanent Residents and Citizens, and even if you are not, the vaccine is soon to be made available to everybody in Singapore. So spread the word on this vaccine, and encourage people to consider why they should take it too.