Recent developments have been made for a COVID-19 vaccine, after the pandemic has stayed for months around the world.

Yet while there are vaccines available, none have been made or are allowed to be used inside the United States as of December 8. Currently, the FDA, the Food and Drug Administration, is in the process of deciding whether or not to allow the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to be accessible to the public. 

The vaccine needs to be applied in two doses, not just one like a flu shot. While it is possible to only get one dose, it only has a 50% effectiveness compared to 95% on the second dose. It was created in November and has since then been in testing to improve its effectiveness.

If the vaccine is approved and brought to the United States, people should try to get them as early as possible. It doesn’t have a 100% effectiveness at stopping coronavirus, but 95% with two doses or even 50% with a single dose is still better than not taking it until later on and still risking the possibility of COVID-19.

It is fine to wait a few extra weeks to have more things corrected in the vaccine and make it more potent, but the more someone waits, the longer they are still exposed to coronavirus.

Even though it is new, it’s been researched very cautiously, and there shouldn’t be any errors that would be life-threatening. Any corrections would have been made immediately if any serious problems were found, and most were done during testing when it wasn’t mass-produced.

The vaccine still has side effects such as fever, headaches, fatigue, etc. Yet those are normal in a lot of medicine. Many vaccines or regular pills have the same side effects, so this is not abnormal. 

People should get their vaccine as soon as possible, but those who are wary of what may happen, they can choose to wait longer at the cost of continued exposure to COVID-19.