Thank You Healthcare Workers, I Received a COVID-19 Vaccine

Only thanks to healthcare workers’ sacrifices they continue making in tackling this pandemic.

Yesterday, I received my first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. It was the first time in a while that made me begin to believe there may be light at the end of the tunnel. A pandemic that has so far taken the lives of almost 400,000 Americans, receiving the vaccine let me know that it is possible for us to get a grasp on this devastating virus. Beyond that, I began to think about the impact it has had on healthcare workers, the people on the frontlines of this pandemic.

According to Registered Nursing, anywhere from 7–26% of healthcare workers have been infected with COVID-19. To put that into perspective, there are around 18 million healthcare workers in the US according to the CDC. On the low end, that would suggest that 1.26 million workers contracted COVID. While on the high end, that would put the number at 4.68 million workers. With the healthcare workforce being disproportionately female at 80%, COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on women in the economy. These are the same people that are continuing to fight the pandemic as January and February look to be the worst months.

From double and triple shifts to seeing countless people die each day, healthcare workers are now working to vaccinate hundreds of millions of people in the coming months. There is cause for hope as the vaccine has been…