COVID-19 brought a lot of changes, especially in the workplace, including schools. With those changes brought the realization of how important the simple things are.

“You see that TV over there,” FHN Science teacher John Travis said. “That’s what most of my students look like. I get a black rectangular box and a name So, I mean, the face to face, I miss terribly.”

When news of COVID-19 vaccines being made surfaced, there were a lot of mixed feelings about them. While some people were hesitant, a lot of people were hopeful.

“I feel excitement, you could finally breathe.The end [to Covid-19], that’s coming soon,” FHN Nurse Heather Marren said.

Since December 2020, vaccines have been available. Five months later, teachers are finally getting vaccinated. Missouri teachers were a part of Phase 1B-Tier 3 which started on March 15. But even now, it is a struggle for teachers to get vaccinated. 

“The tiers were set by the Missouri State Health Department,” Marren said. “I feel the state could have been faster at distributing vaccines to get through the tiers faster.”

Now that teachers are slowly getting vaccinated, it’s a question of whether or not it should be a requirement for teachers and staff.

“I can’t obviously force anybody to [take the vaccine], but I think it’s best for all eligible people to get the vaccine,” Travis said. “I think it’s selfish not to, and to rely on other people to get it to reach herd immunity.”

With more and more people getting vaccinated and the spread of COVID-19 slowly down, people are looking towards the future. 

“I would like to say goodbye to COVID as soon as possible,” Travis said. “It certainly has been an interesting year.”