Close Menu
The Baylor Lariat
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn
    Trending
    • Baylor graduate charged after killing cats with pellet gun, hanging bodies over utility lines
    • Baylor Football’s Alex Foster dies at 18
    • Board of Regents confirms budget, renovations, new leadership in May meeting
    • How facilities responds to storms, flooding in campus buildings
    • Welcome Week leaders now paid in hopes of increasing numbers
    • 5 Baylor sports storylines to look forward to in 2025-26
    • Castle’s grand slam lifts baseball to 30th win of season 10-7
    • What to Do in Waco: Summer Edition
    • About us
      • Spring 2025 Staff Page
      • Copyright Information
    • Contact
      • Contact Information
      • Letters to the Editor
      • Subscribe to The Morning Buzz
      • Department of Student Media
    • Employment
    • PDF Archives
    • RSS Feeds
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn
    The Baylor LariatThe Baylor Lariat
    Subscribe to the Morning Buzz
    Saturday, June 21
    • News
      • State and National News
        • State
        • National
      • Politics
        • 2025 Inauguration Page
        • Election Page
      • Homecoming Page
      • Baylor News
      • Waco Updates
      • Campus and Waco Crime
    • Arts & Life
      • Wedding Edition 2025
      • What to Do in Waco
      • Campus Culture
      • Indy and Belle
      • Sing 2025
      • Leisure and Travel
        • Leisure
        • Travel
          • Baylor in Ireland
      • Student Spotlight
      • Local Scene
        • Small Businesses
        • Social Media
      • Arts and Entertainment
        • Art
        • Fashion
        • Food
        • Literature
        • Music
        • Film and Television
    • Opinion
      • Editorials
      • Points of View
      • Lariat Letters
    • Sports
      • March Madness 2025
      • Football
      • Basketball
        • Men’s Basketball
        • Women’s Basketball
      • Soccer
      • Baseball
      • Softball
      • Volleyball
      • Equestrian
      • Cross Country and Track & Field
      • Acrobatics & Tumbling
      • Tennis
      • Golf
      • Pro Sports
      • Sports Takes
      • Club Sports
    • Lariat TV News
    • Multimedia
      • Video Features
      • Podcasts
        • Don’t Feed the Bears
      • Slideshows
    • Advertising
    The Baylor Lariat
    Home»Opinion

    Get your COVID vaccine

    Emily CousinsBy Emily CousinsAugust 22, 2021Updated:August 22, 2021 Opinion No Comments3 Mins Read
    Photo credit: Audrey La
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    By Emily Cousins | Staff Writer

    The COVID-19 pandemic has become a political and divisive issue. The U.S. is fortunate enough to have widely accessible, free COVID-19 vaccinations, but only 50% of Americans are fully vaccinated.

    To prevent the spread of COVID-19 and variants that can overcome the vaccine, people need to get vaccinated.

    To achieve herd immunity, it usually takes 70 – 90% of the population getting vaccinated. Doctors don’t have an exact number because variants are popping up and are more contagious than the original virus. This means the percentage of people who need to get vaccinated to contain the virus is going up.

    Right now, Texas ICU beds are filling up, and the hospitals are reaching their maximum capacity because of patients with severe COVID-19.

    According to a survey conducted by ABC News, 94% of COVID-19 patients in the ICU of 17 states were unvaccinated. You can help ICU beds stay open for people with unavoidable illnesses by getting vaccinated.

    Now that the Delta variant is spreading and can infect vaccinated people, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has suggested again that everyone wear masks indoors. If more people had gotten vaccinated, we would probably still be maskless. Unless a doctor has advised you not to get it because of health issues, there is no excuse for not getting vaccinated.

    Many young and healthy people believe that they don’t need the vaccine because they’re not in a high risk group. However, anyone can contract it and die or get a severe case.

    Some people say we don’t know the persisting effects of the vaccine, but there have been no reported long-term side effects. On the contrary, many people have reported after recovering from COVID-19 that they are experiencing difficulty breathing, fatigue, brain fog, and the list keeps going. Doctors aren’t sure how long these lingering symptoms will last. It could be a few months, but it could possibly be permanent.

    There are concerns that the COVID-19 vaccines could cause infertility. Doctors say there is no data to support this claim. There IS a possibility getting COVID-19 could affect fertility in men, and pregnant women who contract COVID-19 may get sicker than normal.

    The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was put on pause in April after six women got blood clots and one died. This caused alarm for many people, but remember, at the time, that was six people out of 6.8 million people who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. It is rare, and if that still makes you uncomfortable, Moderna and Pfizer are options.

    Religious people may be leery of getting vaccinated because many vaccines use fetal cell lines, which is a cell taken from an aborted baby and multiplied. Fetal cell lines are used to create inactive viruses for vaccines. The cells used from abortions are from the 1960s and 1970s are still used today.

    The good news about COVID-19 vaccines is there are multiple options that did not use fetal cell lines in the production of the vaccine, so there’s no religious reason to avoid getting vaccinated. Pfizer and Moderna do not use fetal cell lines.

    Maybe you had COVID-19 and you think you don’t need to be vaccinated now. However, the CDC says antibodies are not recommended to assess immunity against COVID-19.

    No one can force you to get vaccinated, but your decision affects everyone. We have an obligation to our communities, our family, our friends and ourselves to get vaccinated. It’s going to take everyone working together to be responsible and to care for our fellow human beings.

    Emily Cousins

    Keep Reading

    Don’t believe myths about autism — reduce stigma by learning facts

    I never thought I’d miss my meal plan

    Violent predator catchers do more harm than good

    Lariat Letter: My pre-medical studies have shaped me into a better man

    It’s time to write more handwritten letters

    The end of the semester is just the beginning

    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Recent Posts
    • Baylor graduate charged after killing cats with pellet gun, hanging bodies over utility lines May 30, 2025
    • Baylor Football’s Alex Foster dies at 18 May 28, 2025
    About

    The award-winning student newspaper of Baylor University since 1900.

    Articles, photos, and other works by staff of The Baylor Lariat are Copyright © Baylor® University. All rights reserved.

    Subscribe to the Morning Buzz

    Get the latest Lariat News by just Clicking Subscribe!

    Follow the Live Coverage
    Tweets by @bulariat

    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn
    • Featured
    • News
    • Sports
    • Opinion
    • Arts and Life
    © 2025 ThemeSphere. Designed by ThemeSphere.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.