After a year filled with controversy regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, the debate has now seemed to shift towards whether a person should receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

With all the controversy and discussion surrounding the vaccine, there are still many people receiving the vaccine. I am one of those people.

I’m not going to lie; I was pretty nervous and hesitant whenever I heard of the vaccines coming out that quickly. But after researching the vaccine and the amount of research that went into the vaccines, I decided to go for it.

So, whenever I heard Abilene was distributing the Pfizer vaccines to people 16 or older, I signed up for the first day they had available. At the end of March, I receive my first COVID-19 vaccine. Besides having an arm that was sore for about a day, I felt completely normal.

Then three weeks went by, leading to this week, and I was finally due for my second vaccination.

Now, I think we have all heard how the second vaccination is supposed to knock you out and cause you to feel sick. So, heading into my second vaccination on Wednesday, I was nervous about the side effects.

But I went ahead and got the vaccine anyway because I was determined to get fully vaccinated. Once I finally got the vaccine, I anxiously awaited for the severe side effects to hit me. Wednesday went by, and all I had was a slightly less sore arm. Then Thursday rolled around, and I only felt sleepy, had a minor headache, and ran a possible low-grade fever. Finally, on Friday, I felt completely normal.

So, after my experience with getting the COVID-19 vaccine, my contribution to the debate regarding whether it is worth it or not to get vaccinated is this.

To me, feeling slightly sick for about 24 hours is worth getting the vaccine than running the risk of catching COVID-19 and spreading it to someone else. Granted, the vaccine may have a different impact on people depending on your immune system. But looking at my own experience and the experiences of most of my friends and family, I have seen that the vaccine did not bring many side effects.

So to those who are debating about getting the COVID-19 vaccine, my charge is this: if you are thinking about deciding whether you want to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, don’t wait and get it taken care of because it’s worth it!

The university and city of Abilene have plenty of resources to help you get vaccinated. If you decide not to get the vaccine, that is okay; I will not hold that against you. Just make sure that you keep doing your part, wearing your mask, socially distancing and being responsible with your choices, and that goes for everyone.

Just because we have seen a gradual digression in cases doesn’t mean the pandemic is over yet. We are still far from that. Though I am just as eager as everyone else to return to complete normalcy, we need to make sure to keep doing our part to help keep others safe. And for some of us, that means getting vaccinated.