The last year has been a rollercoaster of emotion throughout the global pandemic that took flight when it was officially declared a global health emergency by the WHO on Jan. 30, 2020. COVID 19 has taken a severe toll on all many households and families as well as businesses and the economy. 

 COVID has hit the economy hard, and since the start of COVID, small business revenue is down 20 percent  which has forced some to have to make serious changes to their budgets and the way they lived their lives before. 

Some changes have obviously been bigger than others, for example probably one of the biggest changes was that the world began to quarantine, advising people to stay home unless doing essential work or going to gather essential products. 

After almost a year in and out quarantine covid has left Wisconsin with about 600,000 cases of covid and approximately 6,000 deaths. But hope is on the horizon now that two vaccines are available to certain members of the community.  One vaccine is made by Pfizer-BioNTech and the other is made by Moderna. Some side effects do come with the vaccine, however most feel that the benefits of getting the shot outweigh any side effects.

Many special education teachers and aides in the Greendale School district have already gotten the shot. “I was a little nervous at first yet the benefit of stopping/slowing the virus down is worth it,” special education teacher Matt Susek said. “The only effect  was a sore arm.” 

The vaccine is slowly being offered to more and more people and faculty are happy that they will soon be able to get the shot if they haven’t already.  Special Ed aide Casey Stefanowski has gotten the first shot and is waiting to get the second. “Getting the vaccine allows me to be free, and feel more comfortable in an atmosphere of people,” he said. “I did not have any apprehensions about taking the shot. They did have us watch a video about what was in the vaccine, what side effects there have been and informed us that this was not approved by the FDA.” 

Junior Danijela Gallo is happy that many people are getting the vaccine. “I think the vaccine is something that soon will be something that everybody should get like the flu shot,” she said. 

However some, like senior Jah-sua Reyes, are a bit skeptical of it. “ I would not get the vaccine because it has seen many side effects and is not approved by the FDA,” he said.

Everyone has their own opinion on the vaccine and whether or not they should take it. Although it is hard to know when very little knowledge is given about the vaccine, in the end whatever we can do to provide maximum safety and make everyone comfortable will be done to finally end this pandemic.