A few weeks ago, I brought home an unwelcome “souvenir” from a summer vacation — COVID. Yep, like most of us, I wanted to forget about COVID forever. However, soon after our return, everyone in my household was taking a COVID test. With my other medical issues, this bout could have been serious.
The good news is that I have fully recovered and my awful experience is motivating and empowering me to share this simple message: It’s not over. Get the COVID vaccine.
My doctor and the CDC recommend the updated 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccines to help protect against serious illness and hospitalization during the fall and winter.
When selecting a COVID vaccine, there are different options available, including mRNA and protein-based non-mRNA vaccines. The mRNA vaccines, developed by Pfizer and Moderna, teach our cells how to make copies of the spike protein, which triggers an immune response.
The non-mRNA protein-based vaccine, developed by Novavax, uses protein fragments of the virus that causes COVID along with an ingredient called an adjuvant to help the immune system respond to the spike protein in the future.
It’s safe to mix and match COVID vaccines, so if you previously received an mRNA vaccine, your next dose can be the non-mRNA protein-based vaccine.
New COVID-19 variants continue to evolve over time, which is why manufacturers have developed updated COVID vaccines for the 2024-2025 immunization season. If you’re like me and you’ve had COVID, you should still get an updated COVID vaccine, according to the CDC. Getting COVID does not mean you’re immune.
As the NAACP and others have reported, health disparities resulted in Black Americans being more vulnerable to contracting COVID-19 and dying from it at higher rates; in fact, nearly two times greater than their share of the population. To quote the Men’s Health Network on its website dedicated to vaccine education: we can get with “this” (the vaccine) or get with “that” (sick with COVID).
We know these stats and no family is immune; Mayor Bowser lost her sister to this horrible virus. Some members of our valued team lost close relatives and friends. We grieve every loss.
At Washington Literacy Center, we help people with the greatest barriers and fewest resources learn and we’ve been working on it for over 60 years. We’re ensuring that our students, graduates, volunteers and supporters understand that getting the COVID vaccine is the smartest thing they can do.
For over 119,000 adults in D.C., low literacy skills are a hurdle to just about everything: completing their education, getting and keeping a decent job, and staying out of poverty.
We believe one of the barriers to getting the COVID vaccine has been a lack of literacy skills, especially health literacy skills.
That’s why this fall we’re having conversations with our staff, students and others in our community; we’re not assuming informative columns like this one will reach everyone. I’m sharing my story with neighbors in Southeast D.C.; we know that personal outreach from a trusted, knowledgeable friend makes a difference.
But the reality is there’s not enough time or resources to reach every single person we need to. I urge you to visit websites such as us.novavaxcovidvaccine.com and vaccines.gov and talk to your physician.
Trust me, getting COVID now is not fun. For our seniors and others with other health conditions, it can be serious. The power is in your hands to prevent and minimize its impact on your life.
Williams is CEO and president of the Washington Literacy Center.
