Today, we continue our new series on the importance of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. Over the next several weeks, you’ll hear from your neighbors, faith leaders and those in the business community, among others.
They’ll share their personal stories – all of them with a simple and heartfelt message: Get vaccinated. Save lives.
My reasons for getting vaccinated start close to home and expand to the broader community, or complete strangers.
Credit: contributed
Credit: contributed
I’m vaccinated for my fiancée, for our families and for our friends, many of whom are immuno-compromised. In terms of our recent engagement, we want to plan a festive, safe wedding with loved ones in attendance, and later we want to experience stress-free honeymoon travel.
In my community role at ArtsBridge Foundation, we are looking forward to the return of K-12 student field trips and we want these educational opportunities to be safe for thousands of students, their teachers and, by extension, their parents and siblings.
The minute COVID vaccinations got approved inspired major sighs of relief, and as scientists reported they were pleased at the progress, I never gave vaccine hesitation another thought.
As a fairly high-strung person who is also needle-averse, my pandemic anxieties were elevated by the time of our first jab. But we happily and willingly chose long-term health over momentary discomfort, and I encourage others to do the same.
I’ve heard that many people were knocked out by their second jab, and that was my experience, too, finding myself temporarily feverish and foggy-brained that day. But I was fine by dinnertime. I would again enthusiastically choose vaccination’s peace of mind over fear of the unknown.
I’m also vaccinated because, although there are a lot of things in life that cannot be controlled no matter how badly we may want to, I want to do everything possible to remain healthy for myself and for everyone around me.
Elliott Folds is program coordinator of the ArtsBridge Foundation, the arts education arm of the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. The ArtsBridge Foundation is dedicated to providing quality arts education programs for K-12 students.
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