COVID-19 has put people all over the world in a state of confusion, loss, and sadness this past year, but thanks to the recently released vaccines that were made to stop the virus, there is finally some good news regarding COVID-19. 

COVID-19 has had a huge impact on Colorado. Businesses all across the state have gone out of business due to the lockdowns, and over 5,000 people have lost their lives due to the virus alone in Colorado. But luckily as of December 2020, the vaccine for COVID-19 began its distribution to people all over the state.

Because of the high demand, but little supply of the vaccine, Colorado has split the distribution of the vaccine into phases to ensure that the people that are at the highest risk of the virus are first in line to get the vaccine. Colorado is still in the middle of Phase 1, which is health care workers and individuals over 70 years of age. Colorado plans to have the vaccine openly available for the general public by summer 2021.

Communities all over Colorado are starting to see footprints of the vaccine as more and more people are starting to receive the shot. The community at A-West has even been impacted by this vaccine. 

Drew Martinez, a sophomore at A-West, has had multiple people in his family already receive the vaccine. 

“My grandma got the shot a couple of weeks ago and she is still waiting to receive the second dose.” 

There has been a lot of talk over this vaccine since it’s been created in almost less than a year of how safe it really is. People all over the country feel that when they get the chance to receive the vaccine, they will deny the offer. 

Martinez on the other hand feels the very opposite of what those people think. 

“Yes, I will get the vaccine when I get the chance to. I think it’s safe because they have been working really hard on making it for the past year with the best technology. I’m not really worried about it.”  

According to the CDC, there are a few side effects of receiving the vaccine. Including fevers, chills, headaches, tiredness. These side effects have been proven to only last a few days after receiving the vaccine and do not last long term. 

When asked if his grandma experienced any side effects from the vaccine, he said,

“She complained about her arms hurting in the area where she got the shot for a few days, but other than that she was fine. She didn’t get like a headache or chills or anything like that.”

With the first batch of vaccines rolling out across the world, things are finally starting to look up again. And as for everyone in Colorado, people are just excited for everything to go back to normal.