As the Coronavirus pandemic keeps surging, the experimenting and production of a possible COVID-19 vaccine has been happening behind the scenes since the beginning. Pfizer has been hard at work and has a vaccine that appears to prevent nine out of ten people from getting COVID-19. San Diego is one of the first countries in California to receive a batch of vaccines on Monday, December 14 2020. 

The Naval Medical Center San Diego and Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton were the first sites to obtain the vaccine. Not a day later UC San Diego Health received their first batch and will start vaccinating their front line workers. The health officials of San Diego are hopeful that they will begin to vaccinate the general public in early spring. With the help of places, such as CVS and Walgreens, the two companies are already helping combat the pandemic by getting contracts with the federal government to start to vaccinate nursing homes (residents and staff). 

Government officials wish that the distribution of the vaccine will be effective and quick however there are some obstacles. To start, the vaccine includes two doses separated by 21 days. It will take some time to get the majority of the people vaccinated in a short time. Freshman Christopher Ruff, said “For life to return to normal is gonna take a year if proper regulations are put in place but obviously that is not going to happen”. 

As well as the Pfizer must be stored on dry ice at about negative 60 to 80 degrees Celsius (-76 to -112 degrees Fahrenheit). It is quite difficult to store the vaccine due to the very lower temperature. To help combat that, Rady Children’s Hospital has been named the storage site for vaccines due to being very secure ultra-low-temperature freezers. 

Due to the pandemic, school has been online and many students are finding this version of school a difficult one. Freshman Jordin Morrow hopes that “the new vaccines will be approved for kids so in-person school will be a possibility.”  Ruff is also hopeful that “the vaccine will greatly lessen the impact of COVID and help decrease infections”. 

As the coronavirus keeps rising and canceling and destroying these years normality. Morrow is hopeful that “the new vaccine will help bring an end to the pandemic.” The vaccine is a huge step forward however social distancing and wearing a mask also help combat the pandemic, so be safe and mask up.