BRAZOS COUNTY, Texas — Slowly but surely, more people are getting the COVID-19 vaccine.
Some people may still have some doubts or just questions about what getting it could mean.
A College Station healthcare worker talked to KAGS about their experience.
It’s safe to say most medical professionals would probably agree, 2020 has been a long, hard year.
This time of year is usually busy anyway, with cold and flu season in full swing.
2020 has packed a bigger punch for Dr. Lon Young and his staff at CapRock.
He works with testing and care for COVID-19 patients and is tired of dealing with the pandemic and its effects.
“It has been stressful to constantly wonder, ‘was that patient encounter the one that I got exposed enough to potentially get infected, and then what would that do if I took it home to my family,’" he said.
CapRock Health System hasn’t been approved to administer the vaccine yet, but Dr. Young’s firsthand experience with patients and seeing the affect the pandemic’s had on everyone’s life made getting the vaccine so important to him.
“The vaccine is really the only true hope for moving out of this," he said.
“If we were to just let this virus run its course, it would be, a humanitarian disaster.”
Thanks to HEB, Dr. Young was able to do his part to stop the spread and get vaccinated with his staff, and to him, it was all pretty simple.
“It was just a matter of a visit to a pharmacy, fill out a couple papers and roll up my sleeve," he said.
"There’s a little tenderness in my shoulder, not quite as much reaction as I’m used to from getting a tetanus booster. It just feels like a normal vaccine, honestly.”
The vaccines were developed in record time which can concern some people.
While that’s understandable, Dr. Young wants others to know the same process that has been used to approve past vaccine has been used to approve the current COVID-19 vaccines.
In Texas, the next phase of vaccine distribution, 1B, started on Monday for those 65 and older and people 16 and older with certain chronic medical conditions.
Dr. Young can’t wait for more people to have their turn.
“Consider your situation," he said.
"While there’s definitely some unknown remaining that there might be some rare side effect, there is definitely risk and danger with getting COVID. The virus is not going to go away on its own. It’s going to be with us.”
Dr. Young says pregnant and lactating women and children have not been approved to get the vaccine.
People who fall in those categories should talk to their doctors.