The TRENDS podcast is a collaboration between the Community Foundation of Boulder County and KGNU. It dives deep into the community’s most pressing issues and explores the changes happening throughout Boulder County through the experiences of community members, especially those often rendered invisible by commercial media, to shed light on community challenges, solutions, and pathways forward for the county and the country.
featured image: Fred Glover in line for a coronavirus vaccine.
Listen to the Coronavirus Vaccine: Community Voices TRENDS podcast episode
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It has been almost one year since the first lockdown order went into effect in Boulder County to curb the spread of the coronavirus. People are experiencing COVID-19 fatigue and are anxious to know when things might start to return to some normalcy.
People being monitored in a waiting room after receiving their coronavirus vaccines in Boulder County
Experts and government officials tell us that, although the future remains uncertain, the timeline depends greatly on following precautionary guidelines, like mask use and social distancing, and on a large portion of the population getting the vaccine.
CDC experts are still trying to determine the percentage of the population that needs to either get the vaccine or have had the disease to achieve herd immunity. Most estimates are around 70 to 75 percent.
Michael, a nurse at a Boulder County vaccine clinic, administers a coronavirus vaccine to Fred Glover
This is a very high number, not only because of the challenges in rolling out the vaccine program but also because not everyone is willing or able to get the vaccine. The reasons for this are many, including fear, mistrust, medical issues, and those who choose not to get vaccinated.
Fred Glover, a distinguished professor who retired from CU Boulder, got his first vaccine on an icy early morning in February.
Glover says that it is unfortunate that some people are afraid of a vaccine.
"If you don't get the vaccine versus the likelihood of having a reaction, if you do, there's just no comparison. It's all your chances of coming up ahead are just dramatically better, if you get the vaccine," he said.
Glover lost a brother to polio when he was 14 years old, a year before the polio vaccine became available. "And my gosh, if we had only had that vaccine, my brother's death could have been avoided. And all of the people whose lives were saved by that vaccine is a testimony to the importance of getting a vaccine for a serious illness when it's available."
Raquel Cagan, a neuropsychologist who lives in Boulder, was born in Colombia and worked primarily with young children, specifically in underserved and impoverished communities.
She remembers a time when children were encouraged to donate 10 cents to help eradicate polio in other parts of the world.
"I remember as a child well, and we moved to this country, you had to go and give 10 cents to the March of Dimes… my mom didn't have a lot of money, but I had my 10 cents and you went and you put it in a little caniste...
