As we approach the summer, the Coronavirus vaccine roll out has been great. As of March 1st only about 10% of people were fully vaccinated. Now, about 40% of people in the US have been fully vaccinated and over 50% of people have at least one dose. Also, weekly average COVID cases are 10 times down from the peak of COVID-19 cases. Subsequently, many states are lifting mask mandates. But all this good news doesn’t mean COVID-19 is over. Public health officials are claiming around 80% of people in the US will need to get fully vaccinated for herd immunity. What is herd immunity, you might be asking? It is protection against the spread of an infectious disease within a population. 

Both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines have proved to be two of the better vaccines, as Pfizer’s is about 95% effective and Moderna is right behind it with about 94.1% effectiveness. Also many public health officials have said if you are fully vaccinated and you still get COVID-19, your symptoms won’t be as worse. Pfizer’s vaccine has recently been authorized for kids 12-15. This is great news because it proves to be safe for younger kids. Moderna, however, has not announced an exact date as to when it will be authorized for ages under 18 but it is anticipated to be coming soon. Their tests have just come out a day ago, proving to be very effective and have little to no side effects. Pfizer is now talking about authorizing the COVID-19 vaccine for kids 2-11 in the early fall of 2021. This is great news and will mean we are one step closer to being fully back to normal.