Every weekend I drive over to Potsdam, put on my nametag and Stewart’s hat and wait on hundreds of customers. Several times a day a customer will come in without a mask.  I always offer them one from the box we keep behind the counter, and usually they apologize, put on the mask and say they forgot theirs in their car, or at home.  But at least once a day a customer accepts the mask, puts it in their pocket and walks away maskless.

It was through Stewart’s and being an essential worker that I was able to get my first dose of the vaccine.  Several weeks ago, at the Ogdensburg Dome, I received a shot of the Moderna vaccine.  As I filled out the paperwork, the nurse told me that she was afraid that as much as thirty percent of their supply of vaccines was going to have to be thrown out.  According to her, a number of people just didn’t show up for their vaccine.

The next day I went back to work at Stewart’s, and as I was making an iced coffee for a customer she told me how she believed that the Covid-19 vaccine implanted nano-technology in the patient’s arm that could allow them to be controlled over 5G mobile networks.  Furthermore, she informed me, the Covid-19 changed a patient’s DNA and caused infertility.

She isn’t the first person I know to express these concerns.  Friends, family members and coworkers have told me that they don’t believe the vaccine is safe or effective.

But the research overwhelmingly and almost unanimously disagrees.  A John Hopkins University study by Lisa Lockerd Maragakis, M.D., M.P.H. and Gabor David Kelen, M.D. came to the conclusion that the vaccine is safe and has no permanent side effects.  “The mRNA in the COVID-19 vaccines does not enter the nucleus of your cells, where the DNA is, so it does not affect your DNA or change your genes,” Maragakis and Kelen wrote.  Investigations have been conducted into deaths that occured after Covid-19 vaccine administration, and no evidence has been found to suggest that the vaccine was responsible.

In contrast with the vaccine itself, vaccine misinformation is something to worry about.  Because of this misinformation doses of the vaccine are being wasted and at-risk individuals are without protection.

This comes at a time when Covid-19 cases are still high, at similar levels to last Spring.  But this isn’t last Spring: we know how to stop the virus, and the deaths that are occuring are preventable.  Clear and overwhelming research points to the effectiveness of masks, the safety and importance of vaccines and the need to continue social distancing practices.

Trust me, I understand the fatigue with masks.  I know everyone is tired of the pandemic and ready for things to return to normal.  Around campus this week I have seen students without masks walking about in groups, partying and congregating in groups.  And I wish we could do that, I wish we could return to normal.  This is the end of my four years at St. Lawrence, and I want nothing more than to be able to celebrate it with my friends.

But the pandemic isn’t over yet.  We have the tools and the knowledge to end it, and the better we act now the sooner that will happen.  There is misinformation out there that is scary, but the research shows that masks work and that the vaccine is safe.  The millions who have received it, like myself, can attest.  So mask up, St. Lawrence, and please get the vaccine as soon as you can.  And until the vaccine is distributed widespread and we achieve herd immunity, please stay safe, stay socially distant and keep your mask on.