Social Media Frenzy

The social issue that I chose to focus on has been the COVID-19 vaccine efforts. I’ve tried to center all

of my information on the healthcare field, as that’s where I work and that’s the perspective that I have with this

whole pandemic. At the start of the year, my work offered all of their employees the COVID-19 vaccine. I was

against getting it, and wanted to wait a while before jumping all in. I chose not to get it for several reasons, and

my work made it seem like I was the only one in the whole company who was choosing to wait to receive it.

After asking questions and doing research, I found that I was part of the 48% of my company that had elected to

not get vaccinated. I hadn’t done too much research on it, except for what I heard throughout the medical field,

until I was assigned this project at the beginning of the year.

 This graph shows the

percentage of multiple

different choices that were

given to U.S. adults when

asked if they would get

vaccinated against COVID-

19 if the FDA approved a

free vaccine. This source did

an excellent job of showing

that there is more to the decision than just a yes or a no, it’s not just black and white. There are just as many

people that chose to wait and see as there was that said that they would receive it as soon as they possibly could.

This graph shows the

results of telephone and

online surveys of adults that

are 18 and older, and show

the many different reasons

that U.S. adults are not

getting the vaccine. All of

these reasons are valid

enough to warrant someone

choosing not to receive the

vaccine, and it often seems like they are being made fun of for their choices. Yet it seems like there are more

people than it seems that are hesitant about the vaccine.

 This graph

shows the survey

results gathered by the

CDC as of March 28,

2021 about how many

people have received

each of the different

vaccines that are

being given around the nation. Pfizer and Moderna are the most popular, with Johnson & Johnson coming in

third. Johnson & Johnson only require one vaccine, but their percentage of effectiveness is far lower than Pfizer

and Moderna.

The purpose

of this graph is to

show the

distribution of those

who have received

the COVID-19

vaccine by

race/ethnicity. This

was an interesting graph to look at, especially with the drastic change in numbers. There has been a lot of talk

about the distrust that many of these ethnic groups have against vaccines and the medical system, and it clearly

shows when you add all of the numbers together.

 This source separates its participants into the different groups, as prioritized through the CDC and state

laws. The information was gathered through an online survey as of December of 2020. Before even looking at

the graph, everyone would have a good guess at which group had the highest numbers and which ones did not.

This political cartoon

played on one of the biggest

reasons for being against the

vaccine, that politics had too

big of a role in the

development of the COVID-

19 vaccine. Media

continuously fed people fear

over the last year, making it so that even if there was a vaccine release, people would doubt its effectiveness.
 This political cartoon plays

on a different reason to fear

getting the vaccine, that it was

developed way too quickly and

that there are too many

unknowns about the whole

thing. Pfizer and Moderna were

the two vaccines that were on the market first, and have become the most popular among the three big brands.

Many people fear getting the vaccine because it was very rushed, and it took less than a fraction of the time that

it took to develop other vaccines (i.e. polio and flu).

Another big

reason that people are

choosing not to get

vaccinated is because

they believe that the

risks of the vaccine

are exaggerated and

that the media has

played a big part in

that. The media is known for blowing things out of proportion and putting panic, fear, and alarm in the minds of

the people who see their content. No one can truly know the extent of damage that this pandemic has truly

caused, because it seems like everything is blown greatly out of proportion due to the media.
 The biggest reason that I

hear from my own coworkers for

choosing not to get vaccinated is

because there are too many

unknowns and there could be a

whole bunch of side effects that

haven’t been discovered yet.

These vaccines are still so new,

and there is no way to say that

there won’t be any side effects.

That scares people, as it should.

Since the start of this project, I have gotten the COVID-19 vaccine as my work became impossible

without it. I have encouraged many around me to get it as well, because I strongly believe that even some

protection is better than none at all. I think that what played the biggest part in me refusing the vaccine at first

was social media, and the crazy effect that they have on the world. They have the power to influence every

aspect of this crazy pandemic, spinning people’s fears out of control. Take these political cartoons for example.

They represent every logical fear that we have about the unknown of the pandemic. They know how to play on

the people’s fears, and make them feel like every choice they make is wrong. Ultimately, I think that social

media has too big of an influence on the choices that we have made during this pandemic.