On Monday November 9, the Pfizer Pharmaceutical Company announced that the COVID-19 vaccine under development had a 90% effective rate in trials.

People may wonder if with this discovery if this vaccine life will soon become normal. Although it’s still a work in progress, the economic impact of the pandemic and the recent spike in positive cases has created a sense of urgency within the pharmaceutical industry to complete these trials. However, rushing the vaccine could produce some errors later on, so the researchers and scientists are following the testing procedure carefully..

If this potential vaccine is approved by the Food and Drug Administration, it could have a significant impact on the many lives that have been affected by COVID-19.

Mount Carmel nurse Lorena Nordstrom, mother of senior Trevor Nordstrom, hopes that the researchers will take the necessary time to get it right.

“I feel that rushing to produce a Covid-19 vaccine could have some bad repercussions, and not just for this pandemic. Although scientists are very knowledgeable in their field, a quick production of a vaccine could harm public health for years, if not generations, to come.

Nordstrom, who is also a nurse at South Suburban Hospital, has been dealing with the pandemic since last March. She notes that several factors come into play when rushing a vaccine into production.  Until the vaccine is thoroughly tested, there could be “fear (among) the public of possible short and long term side effects.”

So, while everyone hopes that the vaccine can quickly be proved effective, we must be patient as the cautious and careful process of testing continues.