We have all finally made it through the first month of 2021, and we already have many questions to wonder about on a daily basis. Leaving those questions unanswered is never good, so as part of the Union Street Journal, I took the time to listen to all of your questions, and answer some of them to the best of our ability. We hope that everybody becomes more informed of what is to come in the near future. 

“When will we, as students and teachers, receive our vaccines?”

Children and young adults are initially scheduled to start receiving their vaccines during Phase 3, which is scheduled to take place during the summer and might extend to the winter. Teachers, on the other hand, are scheduled to receive their vaccines in Phase 2, which begins in the spring. Fortunately, thousands of teachers in our district have already received their vaccines, so the journey for teachers has already begun. For more information, refer to the chart released by the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment above. 

“Are the vaccines really going to put a chip into us?”

No, the vaccines do not carry chips or any other outside bodies, except the microbiological information, like Messenger RNA (mRNA), needed to make it work in your body. This theory was spread for many years that didn’t support any sort of vaccinations, and directed the misinformation towards Bill Gates that was rumored to place location-tracking chips into people. Fortunately, Bill Gates addressed these rumors last June, firing them down in a very humorous manner. 

To summarize, the vaccines do not have chips in them. They only carry microbiological bodies and mRNA needed to help the body learn to fight against Covid-19. Also, the needles used to distribute the vaccines are too small to fit an entire chip in the.

“Are the vaccines safe?”

The vaccines have all been reviewed by the FDA, CDC, and many other independent organizations that have concluded the vaccines to be safe and effective for use. Unfortunately, the only setback is the individual itself that is receiving the vaccine. A healthy 25 year old may have less risks tied to vaccinations and Covid-19, therefore being put lower on the pyramid of vaccine distribution. 

Likewise, a 65 year old with health complications can have a different reaction to the vaccine and Covid-19, being placed higher on the pyramid for distribution. As well, young adults and children need to be tested strictly, because children may have a different reaction than a grown up. 

The disadvantage is that we haven’t had enough time to experiment with the vaccines for too long because of high and immediate demand. The CDC plans to terminate vaccine distribution if young adults react poorly to the vaccine, since the vaccine will for sure react poorly with children that follow. For now, we can conclude that the Pfizer vaccine and the Moderna vaccine are both at 95% and 94% success rate, and are safe to mass distribute. 

“How many Corona cases/ deaths are there now?”

As of January 31st, there were 26,034,475 cases in the US, and 439,955 deaths in the past month. In Colorado, we have reached 397,063 cases and 5,313 deaths.

“What freedoms will we have in everyday life after receiving the vaccine?”

We all hope that after we get the vaccines, school will be back to normal, we won’t have masks on, we will get to travel, and will do things that we used to do without thinking twice. Unfortunately, nobody can guarantee that.  

The CDC says that even after 2 doses of vaccines, you still have to wear a mask, avoid large gatherings, and do other procedures we have been doing so far. This mainly depends on how Covid-19 spreads throughout communities, and how many people got vaccinated. We simply don’t have enough information to know what the aftermath will be after receiving our vaccines. It’s likely that we will still have to wear masks to school next year, and the amount of people in school will be limited as well. Travel might still be permitted, but that depends on international conditions of Covid-19 and the people. We will just have to wait and see. 

“Will my family be safe from Corona much longer?”

Everybody is worried about their family and friends to some extent. As long as we all collectively follow safety guidelines, heed warnings, and don’t make bad choices, your family should be safe. Distance yourself from the careless and under-disciplined people, don’t believe any rumors, and stay faithful to the process, because it will pay off one way or another.

“Will Creek stay in the Hybrid system much longer?”

It’s realistic to expect some transitions between remote and hybrid for a while. As said before, it will be hard to tell the future with all of these vaccines, so there is no telling when we will be back to normal. We can all hope that we will reach a point when we will all get back to a normal school system, but we have to wait and see. 

“What has Biden done so far from the time of his inauguration?”

After Biden has been elected, many would wonder what he has done so far. It has been 11 days since he was sworn in as president, and a few things that he has done are: rejoining the World Health Organization (WHO), stopping all funding for the construction of the wall at the southern border, have the Education Department extend the federal student loan payment and interest pause until September 30th, permitted inclusion of undocumented immigrants in the census numbers, and many other environmental regulations that have been changed over the past presidency , like rejoining the Paris Agreement. 

“How do I know what is fake news and the truth these days?”

It is hard to know who to listen to these days, especially since everybody begins to come up with their own opinions and theories about everything. With technology, it has become even easier to alter reality and make people believe in it. 

Fortunately, just by reading the correct news and staying up to date with events is enough to know what is true and false. Lots of fake news is usually spread throughout social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and more. The top news platforms are actually The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, BBC, Politico, and many others. And of course, The Union Street Journal here in Creek. Avoid the websites or platforms that over-analyze a situation or include too many social media posts, because most of the time they are wrong. 

Most importantly, do not dump the responsibility of mis-informing you on the platforms. Many false new platforms exist to mis-inform since they are biased, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t hold a fault at being sucked into these lies. There is always time to learn the right things the right way. Take a good look at the news you read every day: do you think they are reliable?    

Of course, nothing is clear these days on what will happen in the future, but we can hope that everything will be back to normal sooner or later. For now, let’s hope that 2021 will bring us all luck and recovery. 

What other questions do you have? We’d love to hear from you!